The Family History Federation have recorded a series of podcasts:

Cmprising of conversations between a number of Genealogists and Family Historians on a number of interesting subjects 

Released on the last Wednesday of each month starting in September the dates are below

30th September: Occupations

27th October: Identity

24th November: Young People

29th December: Online Events

26th January: Social Media

23rd February: One-Place Studies 

30th March: Newspapers

Our publicity/social Media Officer Margaret Roberts took part in four of these [Young People, Online Events, Social Media and Newspapers], other names include Janet Few, Paul Chiddicks, Mish Holman, Natalie Pithers, Kelly Cornwall, Jane Hough, Mike Ebester, Judith Batchelor, Andrew Martin and Daniel Loftus

The link to listen to the podcasts is https://www.familyhistoryfederation.com/podcast

Enrich your genealogy knowledge anytime, anywhere 

Legacy Family Tree Webinars: the world’s most popular webinar website for genealogy and DNA testing, where you can freely enjoy a robust offering of live and recorded webinars presented by top speakers 

The site is shortly to undergo a major overhaul - which is explained in an online talk for which you can register - as well as see everything else on offer to watch for FREE - at the link below

https://familytreewebinars.com/

Find My Past have added England & Wales, Electoral Registers 1910-1932

If you have a FMP subscription then these records, spanning 1910-1919 and consisting of a massive 32 million names and 14 million addresses, are now available to search

Use them to trace ancestors, house history and more.

FamilySearch, the world's largest free family history website, has completed its 20-year project to digitise millions of rolls of microfilm

In 1938 FamilySearch, then known as the Genealogical Society of Utah, began microfilming family history records, including birth, death, marriage, census, immigration and military service records. 

The collection eventually grew to more than 2.4 million rolls.

FamilySearch began digitising the records in 1998.

The project was originally expected to take 50 years to complete, but advances in technology have shortened the timespan by 30 years.

Now, the entire collection, consisting of records of 11.5 billion individuals from over 200 countries and principalities, has been digitised and can be viewed online.

Some of the records have been transcribed and are searchable by name, while others can only be browsed.

“We hope that all those who contributed to this milestone in the last 80 years feel a sense of humble accomplishment today,” said Steve Rockwood, the CEO of FamilySearch International.

“And we hope the millions of individuals who will discover, gather, and connect generation upon generation of their family members for years to come because of these efforts will have a deep sense of gratitude for the many unheralded contributors who made those discoveries possible.”

FamilySearch said it would continue to digitise new family history records through its digital camera operations and partnerships, and would begin digitising the 335,000 microfiches in its collections.

The Family History Show online takes place on Saturday 25th September between 10am-4pm 

This online event has all the features of a physical show, from the comfort of your own home!

Put your research questions to an expert, watch a free talk, speak to a local society, archive or genealogical supplier.

Of coure FHSC will have a virtual stall at the show - you can come along and chat with us via text or video link

Tickets are still available 

Link to the show for more information and ticket sales here https://thefamilyhistoryshow.com/online/

Free Online Lectures and Seminars from the Royal Historical Society 

Digging up Manchester: Industrial Archaeology and Heritage in the Shock City 

Thursday September 23, 2021 - 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM BST

Presented by  Dr Michael Nevell, University of Salford. Dr Nevell is a landscape archaeologist with more than 29 years’ experience in archaeology, as a consultant, lecturer, and researcher. His research interests include the archaeology of industrialisation, community archaeology and historic buildings. Dr Nevell has written extensively on industrial and landscape topics and several of his books have won awards from the Libraries Association and the Association for Industrial Archaeology. He is also the Industrial Heritage Support Officer for England, and provides support for industrial heritage sites and the organisations that run them, focusing on preserved, publicly accessible sites across England.  

Link for more information and to register   https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-nineteenth-century-seminar-tickets-169877755941

Link below where the links for the Zoom session can be found https://royalhistsoc.org/calendar/digital-sources-for-womens-history-in-the-womens-library-and-lse-holdings

 

 

 

Explore Your Nursing Family History for Black History Month

 

Thursday 07 Oct 2021 18:00 - 19:15

 

Nursing often runs in families. Perhaps your grandmother or great-uncle was a nurse. But how would you go about uncovering their nursing stories? Every year in Black History Month the RCN Library and Archive are asked about the first nurses of colour working in British hospitals. The answer is that we only know a few of the many stories of black nurses in British history, from “Nurse Ophthalmic” Annie Brewster who worked at the London Hospital from 1881 to 1902 to early registered nurses like Eva Lowe, who joined the nursing register in 1935. Join in to find out how to trace your nursing family history. TV director Tim Kirby will describe his work on the BBC documentary Our NHS: A Hidden History (available on BBC iPlayer). From one file in the National Archives, Tim managed to trace the stories of 30 nurses from Barbados. This will be followed by a practical lesson in using nursing registers to uncover your nurse ancestors with Teresa Doherty, Joint Head of the RCN Library and Archive Service. This session is open to everyone, but will be especially interesting to people of colour looking to find out more about the history of their families. Sign up to attend and a Zoom link will be sent to you before the event.

 

Link  https://www.rcn.org.uk/news-and-events/events/lib-explore-your-nursing-history

 

 

 

 

 

 

The British Diaspora

This year’s autumn conference will be on Zoom on the afternoon of Saturday 9 October, with five exciting papers looking at networks and migrations.

The conference is free, but you need to register by email in advance, and the Zoom access codes will be circulated just before the conference. You can find the full programme beow and registration form at the following link - http://www.localpopulationstudies.org.uk/conference/

For any other queries, please get in touch with Karen Rothery at conferences - localpopulationstudies.org.uk .

PROGRAMME

10:30 – 11:30   Melodee Beals, “Of Cabbages and Kings: The Interplay of Local and Imperial Values in Global News Dissemination, 1840-1860”.

11:30   12:30   Andrew Green, “Leavers…and the Left-Behind”

12:30 – 13:30  Eilidh Garrett and Kevin Schürer, “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road. Cross border migration in Great Britain, 1851-1901”

14:15 – 15:15   Paul Howes, “A surname-based lens into the British diaspora”                       

15:15 – 16.15   Katherine Eriksson, “A helping hand in good and bad times? UK immigrant networks in the US during the Age of Mass Migration”.

September Online Events from the National Archives 

Recovery from the Black Death in late-medieval Britain and Ireland
3 September | 14:00
With each new wave of the came fresh modes of thought in Britain and Ireland in the 14th and 15th centuries. In this talk, Paul Dryburgh as he examines how the royal government, communities and individuals dealt with dramatically changing circumstances and how the country attempted to recover from living with the pandemic.

Writing John of Gaunt, The Red Prince: a conversation with Helen Carr
8 September | 19:30
In a conversation with the head of medieval records, Dr Sean Cunningham, Helen Carr will discuss how she pieced together and interpreted the life of one of England’s greatest medieval magnates and father of English monarchy.

Recovery and Regeneration after the Great Fire of London (1666)
10 September | 14:00
On 2 September 1666, a fire began in the bakery on Pudding Lane. The fire spread rapidly across the city of London, resulting in the destruction of 13,000 homes, 87 churches, the Royal Exchange and St Paul’s Cathedral. In this talk, Philippa Hellawell explore hows 17th century Londoners recovered from the disaster.

Top Level Tips: Wills and other Probate Records before 1858
14 September | 14:00
Find out how you can use wills, administrations, and probate disputes in your research. The webinar will have a focus on the wills left by people from all around England and Wales which were proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury between 1384 and 1858

Click on the following link for full list and then follow the links on that page to book  https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/visit-us/whats-on/events/all-events/

Series 4 of a House Through Time starts next Tuesday [7th September] BBC 2

Link to BBC website for more information

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09l64y9

Mobberley Research Centre & Crewe Family History Unit News 

Mobberley

We expect to be able to reopen Mobberley Research Centre to members on Monday 6th September.

Please phone the centre on 01565 872210 during opening hours before making your journey -  https://www.fhsc.org.uk/new-research-centres/mobberley-research-centre for opening hours

Before we reopen we will carry out a risk assessment and  make any necessary arrangements for the safety of our volunteers and visiting members.

We will have hand sanitiser and wipes available for tables and computers.

Please bring a mask with you and, if you wish, disposable gloves.

We are unsure if the kitchen facilities will be open so you may need to bring a drink.

Toilet facilities will be open as usual.

The centre will be kept well ventilated.

The Mobberley Committee and Duty Volunteers look forward to reopening the Research Centre and welcoming members back to continue their research.

Crewe

The Crewe FHU team are busy preparing the Unit to receive visitors/researchers,  but until Cheshire East Council fully reopen the Municipal Buildings we cannot give a firm date. 

We envisage that an appointment only system will be in place at first.

As soon as any definite news is available members will be updated via newsletter or email

Are you up for a bit of volunteer transcribing? 

The HS2 rail project are seeking members of the public to transcribe over 50,000 records and have launched a new crowdsourcing project to transcribe 57,639 burial records from London’s St James’s Burial Ground.

St James’s, an 18th century burial ground near Euston station that was home to 31,000 bodies, was excavated by archaeologists between 2018 and 2019 as part of HS2’s construction.

The St James’s burial records have been digitised on crowdsourcing platform Zooniverse, and volunteers are encouraged to transcribe details such as each person’s name, date of burial, lot and plot number, age at death and cause of death.

Link to the transcription page and more details - https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/mola/stories-of-st-jamess-burial-ground

With the relaxation of lockdown restrictions on the horizon many Groups are looking forward to returning to the traditional meeting format at local venues BUT are also keen to carry on with occasional Zoom talks.  During the pandemic the shift to online delivery had the added benefit of enabling many members, from both abroad and around the UK, who would not normally be able to attend meetings, to join in with the activities, feel part of the FHSC community, and add to the richness and diversity Group meetings. 

In order that members should not feel disenfranchised FHSC have decided, in addition to the normal Group meetings, to stage a regular, centrally-organised monthly seminar open to all full FHSC members. Called the Family History Society of Cheshire Seminars these talks will feature well-known national and local speakers addressing an impressive selection of topics related to Family History, from instructional talks on using DNA,  a presentation on the history of the Titanic,  to the more light-hearted with a look behind the scenes at Who Do You Think You Are. To date, we are pleased to announce that, among others, we have booked: Dr Nick Barrett, Mark Potts, Prof Martin Johnes, Dr Michala Hulme, Natalie Bodle, Dr Janet Few, Dave Annal and Prof Rebecca Probert.

These seminars will take place on the third Wednesday of each month and will get underway on 20th October with the inaugural Dorothy Flude Memorial Lecture, delivered this year by Mark Potts.  The seminars will be advertised in the usual way on the Events page of the FHSC website, in the Group News section of The Ancestor as well as on our social media platforms and by newsletter.

The talks will be co-ordinated and hosted on behalf of the Society by Margaret Spate, Jean Laidlaw, and Margaret Roberts.  The Seminars will be run slightly differently from a normal Group Zooms and a newsletter will be winging it's way to members soon with details of how to register for each talk.  It is also important to note that we have a dedicated email address -  - to which any queries or comments regarding the series should be sent. 

The Family History Society of Cheshire Seminars form part of the service provided by the Society to its members and are included within the normal annual membership subscription. Why pay up to £10 to watch a single ‘virtual’ speaker when your £18 FHSC membership currently gives you at least six Zoom meetings a month and will soon have the additional benefit of our innovation centralised Seminars  - what a bargain!

Margaret, Jean and Margaret

Family history website Findmypast has removed 120 million pages of international old newspapers after its contract with Heritage Archives elapsed.

If you follow the FHSC social media platforms then you will have read about this last week 

Under a contract, signed in 2012, Findmypast made 120 million newspaper pages from the USA, China, Denmark, Germany, France, Jamaica and South Africa available to its Pro subscribers.

However, from early August reports emerged of Findmypast removing the newspapers without warning.  FMP added that it would not offer a reduced subscription fee but also noted that they are now offering free access to one million pages from their British Newspaper Archive Collection, with millions more to come over the enxt four year. 

Read more at the link below

  https://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/findmypast-removes-international-newspaper-collection/

New Opening Times for CALS below, including updated restriction/mitigation arrangements 

Monday, closed

Tuesday, 9am to 12 noon and 1pm to 4pm

Wednesday, 9am to 12 noon and 1pm to 4pm

Thursday, 9am to 12 noon and 1pm to 4pm

Friday, closed

• We have space for four researchers accessing original records or local studies publications per morning or afternoon session
• We have space for one researcher using a microfilm reader per morning or afternoon session
• Copying and research service is available if you don't wish to travel to the Record Office
• Access to staff will be limited and any conversations regarding collections should take place in advance by telephone
• Visitors to the Record Office are encouraged to wear face coverings at all times
• Gloves should not be worn to handle documents
• Social distancing arrangements will be in place

Arranging an appointment

• If you wish to make an appointment please contact us in advance. We will let you know what time slots we have available or suggest other options for accessing the records remotely
• If you would like to speak with an Archivist in advance let us know and we will arrange a telephone call

For further details click on the following link to the Visting Us section of the CALS website  https://www.cheshirearchives.org.uk/visiting-us/visiting-us.aspx