The Family History Society of Cheshire

This talk explores the history of will making from mediaeval to more recent times, some of the customs and the process of making and proving a will. It looks at how people ensured their loved ones received their inheritance and those out of favour didn’t, using examples of loving and not so loving families.

Anne Mealia is a professional genealogist and family historian researching in Yorkshire and Lancashire and a member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA). Anne was archives researcher on the Channel 4 documentary The Queen’s Lost Family, researching Princess Mary’s archives at Harewood House and has carried out research for BBC’s Who do you think you are?

This event is for members only and registration opens on 1st July, when the ‘Register [Individual]’ button will show on the bottom left of the Event details on the FHSC website for you to click and then process your registration, you will receive an email confirmation. Registration will close on 14th July.

The zoom links/meeting protocol will be forwarded the day before the talk.  If you run into any difficulties with this, then please contact us on the dedicated seminar email address – or see the 'Seminar Talks and how to Register' section under 'Online Talks and Meetings' in the FAQ section of the website.

The Seminar series is co-ordinated by Margaret Spate, Jean Laidlaw and Margaret Roberts and ALL correspondence, queries etc should be sent to the dedicated email address -   

PLEASE NOTE WE DO NOT RECORD SEMINAR TALKS

The Family Historian Genealogy Software Discussion group meets on the third Thursday of the month at 7:30pm via Zoom.

The group is led by Geoff Johnson and all members are welcome to chat about your experiences of using the software and to discuss any problems etc that other members of the group may be able to help out with

To be included in the mailing list for the Zoom link please initially email  

The MAC & Reunion Users Discussion group meets on the third Monday of the month at 2pm via Zoom.

The group is led by John Read, a perfect place to discuss any issues with MAC/Reunion, share your hints and tips, and learn from other members 

To be included in the mailing list for the Zoom link please initially email  

Macclesfield Group: Visit to Christ Church

(Bridge Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 6EG)

Zooming in on Family History is a wide-ranging session whereby members can come along for help with their research, share success stories or just generally meet other members and chat about family history.  

All members are welcome, you can attend as often or as little as you wish, no rules, just a friendly meeting place

The meetings take place on the fourth Wednesday of the month and are led by Margaret Roberts and Sheila Jones, to be included in the emailing list to receive the zoom link for the meeting please email  

The July FHSC Cheshire Research Buddies topic of the month is Frodsham  - Do you have ancestors in the town, or are you researching a local family and want some help, perhaps on the other hand you live in the locality and could offer help with photographing gravestones or buildings. This is the chance for members to help each other, I'm sure there are many members out there with knowledge of the area that they could share. If you have a research question then please feel free to email me on   and I will circulate it among attendees beforehand.

You will need to register to attend, to do so please click on the 'Register [Individual]' button below on the left and process your registration, you will receive an email confirmation and the zoom links/meeting protocol will be forwarded the morning of the helpdesk meeting. If you run into any difficulties with this then please contact Margaret Roberts on 

NOTE that registration closes at 10am on the morning of the meeting.

The DNA Discussion group meets on the fourth Monday of the month at 7:30pm via Zoom.

The group is led by Peter Rowley and all members are welcome to chat about DNA, your experiences and any help the rest of the group can offer 

To be included in the mailing list for the Zoom link please initially email  

One of our own members, Clive Edwards will be speaking about Neston and its myths.

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of the war

The Online Historical Newspaper Discussion group meets on the first Friday of the month at 2pm via Zoom.

The group is led by Margaret Roberts and all members are welcome to chat about using historical newspapers, to pick up hints and tips from other members and generally to discuss any successes or failures! 

To be included in the mailing list for the Zoom link please initially email