Society of Genealogists » General

Did your ancestor die at sea or abroad in the 18th century?

Tim — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:54:03 +0000

If so then he may be mentioned in the latest set of records to be added to the Society of Genealogists Members’ Area http://sog.frontisgroup.com/bin/aps_person_search.php

When a person died without making a will, a relative or creditor could apply for letters of Administration (or Admon). They become known as the Administrator or Administratrix of the estate, the latter often being the widow of the deceased.

Admons include the name, address and occupation of the deceased and administrator, along with the date and place of death and the relationship between them. The identity of beneficiaries is not noted, nor any details of how the estate is distributed.

Letters of administration could be granted in other cases, such as where a will is made but no executors are mentioned. Alternatively a testator might appoint executors who died before the testator or who “renounced” or refused to act in such capacity. In such cases the court granted letters of administration with “Will attached” or “Will annexed”.

The records that have been added to the Members Area are the Admons granted by The Prerogative Court of Canterbury for the period 1750-1800. They are particularly useful to family historians as the court had jurisdiction over the estates of those who died at sea or abroad.

Indeed a third of all the records relate to these 2 categories, reflecting the large number of sailors and soldiers killed in battle during this period (which included the Seven Years War with France (1754-1763), the American War of Independence (1775-1783) and the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802).

The serviceman’s dependents would have been entitled to pay or prize money owed to the deceased, and thus an admon may survive for a person who would not otherwise have appeared in probate records.

The Society is grateful to Anthony Camp and the team of dedicated volunteers (listed on the Members Area) who have made this valuable index available to researchers. The original documents can be consulted at the National Archives at Kew.

Non-members can carry out a free surname search on these records by going to http://sog.frontisgroup.com/bin/aps_person_search.php but to view any records found you will need to join the Society.

Technorati Tags: family history, genealogy, Members' Area

Treasures Tuesday (27th July 2010) Cost of living in 1890

Alisa — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:47:07 +0000

With the current recession, people are increasingly aware of the cost of living and making a conscious effort to tighten their belts. This weeks Treasures Tuesday focuses on the cost of living in 1890. We have picked a collection from our Special Collections which highlights a wealthy Lord and his outgoings compared to the salary of his three groomsmen. The pay list for the servants compared to the grocery receipts of their master shows just how much of a struggle it would have been to make ends meet. Click here to find out more about this and other Treasures of the Society.

Technorati Tags: cost of living in 1890, family artefacts, family history, genealogy, the society of genealogists

Treasures Tuesday (20th July 2010) Printed Ephemera

Alisa — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:52:03 +0000

This week we’re focusing on rare old ephemera within the Society’s collection. Ephemera is transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. It includes trade cards, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, pamphlets, headed letters, posters, prospectuses, stock certificates, tickets and magazines. Click here to find out more about this and other treasures of the Society.

Technorati Tags: ephemera, family history, genealogy, history

Treasures Tuesday (13th July 2010) Family Bibles

Alisa — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:53:51 +0000

This weeks Treasures Tuesday focuses on Family Bibles. The family Bible was used to record family births, marriages and deaths and so can be an invaluable tool for genealogy research. Click here to learn more.

Technorati Tags: family artefacts, family bible, family history, genealogy

New Family Relatives Navy Dataset available free at Society of Genealogists

Else — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 11:23:52 +0000

Family Relatives tell us they just digitised the most comprehensive online collection of Royal Navy Lists covering intermittent years from 1847- 49, 1882 and 1913-1945.

More than 2 million names are included in the Lists which date from the mid – 19th Century (or the Eleventh Period in Navy History) when Britain was involved in a number of conflicts. Regular readers at the SoG will be familiar with the Navy Lists of Officers as the Society’s run of these books goes back to 1756. These records of commissioned officers of the Royal Navy dating back 163 years have been published online for the first time by Familyrelatives.com

The Royal Navy has played a central role in Britain ’s history for centuries. It is the oldest of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces and is the Senior of the three Services. Founded by Henry VIII a professional and national naval force was in existence when King Charles II came to the throne in 1660. At the time he inherited a huge fleet of 154 ships and it was the beginning of the Royal Navy as we know it today.

British ships and sailors were symbols of the nation’s dominance until the 20th Century but this dominance was driven not only by great naval supremacy and naval leaders but by Britain ’s industrial advance and technology which helped to shape the future of warfare. From the beginning of the 19th century until well into the 20th century it was the most powerful navy in the world at a time when Great Britain was the world’s only superpower.

The Navy List runs like a catalogue of history – The Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, the occupation of Beijing and Egypt all of which involved the supply of troops and the protection of troop transports and much later conflicts such as the Boer War and the forcing of the Dardanelles in the First World War.

The Navy Lists contain the details of all Royal Navy and Royal Marine commissioned officers on the Active List of those serving at the time of publication. It was said that every Captain in the Navy had a copy of the list as he was always anxious to know the exact status and seniority of other officers he met.

The information covers every aspect of both Royal Navy and Royal Marine officers whether Active, Retired or on the Reserve Lists, from the date they entered the Service. The List of appointments range from navy and marine cadets to Admirals of the Fleet. Masters and Commanders are featured alongside Physicians, Paymasters and even wounded officers. There is even a section on officers dress regulations, awards and decorations. An important part of the records is the Lists of Ships in the Navy with their Commanders and Officers names as well as Commissioned Packet Ships and Revenue Vessels, together with captured prize ships and their bounties.

For example the 1934 List of Ships and Vessels includes Submarines of the Royal Navy, also the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy arranged in their various classes, their Officers and present Stations. The lists also include RAF Units for Naval Cooperation which was extensive at the time.

The following detailed information is also disclosed:

The type of ship and where deployed, the Displacement Tonnage, the indicated horse power or shaft horse power and the main armament. (This excludes field guns and machine guns used by the navy as an auxiliary land force as in the siege of Ladysmith).

The Name and first names of Officers is shown with an initial denoting his qualification for duties i.e. G for Gunnery duties, T for Torpedo duties, N for Navigating duties, S for Signalling Duties, W/T for Wireless Telegraphy duties, or I paid as an Interpreter. The dates shown are the dates of first appointment to a ship and where two dates are shown for a Marine Officer, the date in brackets indicates when his current sea time commenced.

An example of the search results screen for the Navy List search on Family Relatives can be seen below

Family Relatives is one of the free genealogy websites available in the Society’s Library

Technorati Tags: family history, Family Relatives, genealogy, Society of Genealogists

Treasures Tuesday (6th July 2010) Marriage Licences

Alisa — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:32:08 +0000

This weeks Treasures Tuesday looks at the Society’s extensive collection of Marriage Licences and demonstrates how these simple documents can be extremely revealing. Click here to find out more about this and other family history documents.

Technorati Tags: documents, family history, genealogy, marriage licences, the society of genealogists

Treasures Tuesday (23rd June 2010) Personal stories – World War I

Alisa — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:08:55 +0000

This weeks Treasures Tuesday instalment focuses on a particular set of documents that build a personal and touching account of a young soldiers’ short life. Click here to find out more about this and other family history documents within the Society’s collections.

Technorati Tags: family history, family tree, genealogy, the society of genealogists, WW1

Treasures Tuesday (22nd June 2010) Grants of Arms

Alisa — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:35:02 +0000

The Society hold hundreds of beautiful Grants of Arms. For a sneak peek and to find out more about Grants of Arms and other Treasures at the Society, click here.

Technorati Tags: college of arms, family history, genealogy, grants of arms, the society of genealogists

Treasures Tuesday (15th June 2010) Bonds.

Alisa — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:59:26 +0000

The Society’s ‘Special’, ‘Topographical’ and ‘Document’ collections all hold various legal documents. Click here to find out more about Bonds and other Treasures of the Society.

Technorati Tags: bonds, family history, legal documents, Society of Genealogists

CALLING ALL WORLD CUP WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS

Else — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:01:00 +0000

As someone whose not been at all interested in the forthcoming football excitement I’m delighted that Find My Past has given family historians a reason to wish England well in the World Cup.

Find My Past has made the following announcement:

“The World Cup is now upon us and we thought it would only be fair to provide some entertainment for any non-football fans out there:

Whenever England play a match, you’ll be able to access all our records for free!* “

What you need to know about this fantastic offer:

- When England play, you don’t pay: 30 minutes before each England game kicks off, all the records on findmypast.co.uk will be free to view for 3 hours

- You can view original images and transcriptions of all our records for free including birth, marriage and death records 1538-2006, census records including the 1911 census and our Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records 1760-1913 – to name just a few

- Normally you would need a subscription or PayAsYouGo credits to view our records – some of which normally cost 30 credits each – so to be able to see them for free is a rare opportunity

- Keep an eye on our blog for a competition question to enter during each England match. You’ll need to answer all the questions correctly for a chance to win, so make sure you don’t miss any. The prize is a goodie bag containing a digital camera, vouchers for a year’s Full subscription plus much more

All you need to do to make use of this unique offer is register on findmypast.co.uk as you’ll need to sign in to view the records. Visit our World Cup page for more information.

If you need a helping hand with your research, take a look at our video tutorials or our Getting Started page which provide clear advice on how to use our records.

We’d love to hear about any discoveries you make while our records are free to view – post anything you’d like to share with us and our readers on our Facebook page.

Please pass this on to friends, family or anyone else you think might want to make the most of our free family history records.

*All records available using our Full subscription (including the 1911 Census) will be free: Living Relatives searches and Memorial scrolls are not included.

So this is the ideal oppotunity to escape from the football fuss and get done to some serious genealogy searching. Here are the times of the first three matches. You will need to break a habit of a lifetime to follow the football results to find out when England may be playing further matches !

I am sure that you will know how your local time relates to GMT.

England vs. United States     - 12 Jun       7:30pm
England vs. Algeria                - 18 Jun       7:30pm
England vs   Slovenia              - 23 Jun       3:00pm

Remember that the free time starts 30 minutes before the kick-off and runs for three hours. All records available using the Full subscription (including the 1911 Census) will be free: Living Relatives searches and Memorial scrolls are not included.

I guess that you can register in advance to be ready on time.

Happy hunting -

Geoff Stone and Else Churchill

Technorati Tags: Ancestry, family history, Family History News, Find My Past, genealogy