Guess what Jude - my sister is married to a Derbyshire. My BIL's family are all brits. My brother in law has no accent but his mother had a bit and his grandparents really had accents.
Genealogy Today: Three hints for research into English heritage
Thursday, May 20, 2004
CONNIE LENZEN for The Columbian
With research into English ancestry, we have an advantage over foreign research we do not need to learn a different language. However, it is still hard to locate records when we don't know what is available.
First hint: Mark Howells, husband of Cyndi of Cyndislist.com, wrote a guide to doing English research by using the resources of the Family History Library: www.oz.net/~markhow/ uksearch.htm. If you don't have a computer, go to the library and have the librarian help you print this out.
Second hint: If you are researching families who were in England in 1881, the first stop should be the LDS Web site, www.familysearch.org. You can either access it at home on your computer, or go to a Family History Center and use its computers.
The "Census" search option that is included in the "Search People" section includes the 1881 British Census.
Alfred Wilby, my daughter-in-law's immigrant ancestor, was born in 1867 in Heckmondyke, Yorkshire, England. At least, that is what we were told by a Wilby cousin.
The 1881 census shows a listing for a 14-year-old Alfred Wilby, born in Heckmondyke. He had brothers Fred, Frank, William and Jonathan. These are all names that run in my daughter-in-law's Wilby family.
The 1881 census gives the name of the birth town for each person. It also gives the microfilm number for the census.
That means the film can be ordered at the Family History Center and a copy of the page that contains the Wilby family can be made.
Third hint: The Public Record Office in England has scanned thousands of documents from its archives. The Web site is www.pro.gov.uk/ online/docsonline.htm.
More than one million wills that were submitted to the Prerogative Court of Canterbury from 1384 to 1858 are included in the online collection.
There are a number of Wilby wills that have been scanned, but the only Yorkshire person was Elizabeth, the widow of Richmond Wilby. More research would need to be done to determine if she is a family member.
Wills of famous English men and women have been scanned.
William Shakespeare's five-page will was submitted to the court on June 22, 1616. The handwriting is in a script that we no longer use and takes a bit of pondering to decipher.
It is amazing to think that something that is almost 400 years old has been preserved and scanned and is available for us to view on the Internet.
Connie Lenzen can be reached in care of The Columbian, P.O. Box 180, Vancouver, WA 98666. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for a personal reply. Or e-mail her at gencolumn@yahoo.com.