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Family History - Fact Or Fiction
Pat Hase, a family and local historian, gave an entertaining and informative talk entitled, Family History - Fact Or Fiction, to Street Society members on February 22 2005.
To construct a family tree, she suggested that one should begin with oneself and work backwards, talk to relatives, but not believe everything that one is told or even reads on official records. Useful aids include family bibles, diaries, certificates of births, marriages and deaths, go back to 1837, and any other family memorabilia.
Many of us have boxes of precious old family photographs yet do not know who features on them, so she suggested that any family photographs should have information about the subject and possibly the date and location written gently on the back.
Pat Hase warned that information, even on official documents such as birth, marriage,and death certificates may be incorrect, and gave several actual examples. She also stated that there may be many spelling variations of surnames and showed 28 variations in the spelling of her own surname.
Family skeletons and legends often hold a grain of truth but may not be exactly as passed down through the generations. Claims that some family tree began when the Lord of the Manor took advantage of a girl in service may be exaggerated - it is possible that these lines were begun by another servant, not by the Lord of the Manor or his son.
Pat Hase also gave an amusing anecdote about a person who claimed that she was descended from a member of the Norman Conquest but on investigation discovered that there was a gap of about 200 years in the middle!
Family information can also be found census records and on many family htetgry websites. Pat Hase said that the 1901 British census is available on-line at
www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk but that there is a charge when family information is extracted.
However, she said, the 1881 census may be downloaded without charge from
www.familysearch.org.
Any information extracted from the internet should be checked against the original documents held in record offices as much is in the form of transcriptions where errors may occur.
Many people start to investigate, their family history out of curiosity. This can also lead to knowledge about their ancestors' environment, local history, and what life was generally like for them.
For example, she said, it is interesting to discover the occupations of one's ancestors and of their connections with local and historical events. The interesting talk was followed by an informative question and answer session.
The next event of the Street Society will be on March 22 at 7.30pm at the Leigh Road Methodist Hall, Street, when Philip Welch, editor of the Central Somerset Gazette, will talk about the role of the press in Mid-Somerset.
June Whitfleld
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