February 2011 Archives

You may have noticed that I referred to photographs in the last Blog but there were no photos. Unfortunately there appears to be a technical problem that it making it impossible to place photos on the Blog at present. There were a number of photos in the Blog that I had intended to write this week. There isn't much point in putting this Blog up without the photos so I'll leave that until the technical problems are sorted out.

By now most people will have realised that the 2011 Census will be held at the end of March. The census has been held every 10 years since 1841 except for 1941 during WW2. Those of us investigating our family history have been searching for our ancestors in the census records for years. Unfortunately, because of the confidentiality rule the census records are kept secret for 100 years so we currently can only examine the census records between 1841 and 1911.

Because of the complexities of our family histories it can often be very difficult to trace ancestors after a gap of 100 years or more. Think of your descendants trying to search for your records when the 2011 census records become publicly available 2111. Unless we do something to help them, they will have the same problems that we've had in tracing our ancestors.

How can we help our future descendants? I received an email a couple of days ago which gave a brilliant solution to this problem. The email suggests that, before the Census Form is handed over that you should make a copy of it and keep it with your personal records to be handed down to your decedents, hoping they in turn will hand it to the next generation and so on. In this way successive generations will not have to wait until 2111 to find out about you in 2011.

It's very simple and it's so obvious, as are all good ideas. It makes you think, "Why didn't I think of that"! I certainly didn't think of doing this with the 2001 Census Forms.

This suggestion came originally from a lady called Ann Griffiths and she asked that people circulate the email and it came to me third hand. I'm really pleased that Ann took the initiative to send her email and I hope that you will all consider doing what she suggests.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Bangor, 1 March (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: Peter Brindley: "Upper Bangor - now and then"

Caernarfon, 31 Mawrth (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, LÃŽn Pafiliwn: H Llew Williams: "Grym ewyllys"

Dolgellau, 10 Mawrth (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel: Tecwyn Vaughan Jones: "Arferion Caru a Phriodi"

Conwy, 14 March (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: Peter Brindley: "The Vicar, The Prince and the See"

Llangefni, 17 March (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Peter Day: "Wreck of the Royal Yacht Mary"

Pwllheli, 18 Mawrth (In Wales, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod: Noson Aelodau

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk
The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd. The next meeting is as follows:

Saturday 12 March: The Eirianfa Centre, Factory Place, Denbigh AGM
R M Owen: "Military Moments"

The latest edition of "Gwreiddiau Gwynedd", the journal of the Gwynedd Family History Society, came out at the beginning of December but other than a quick glance I didn't get a chance to read it properly until after Christmas. The journal is an A4 sized publication with 64 pages crammed with interesting articles and information. In addition to the general articles, each edition usually features articles on one area of Gwynedd but this time the spotlight is on the American connections.

There are 17 substantial articles on various aspects of the Gwynedd/American connections plus a number of shorter interesting items and all are illustrated with photographs. Interestingly, these articles include one from the former General Secretary of the Society, J Bryan Jones, one by the Treasurer and Publications Officer, Gwyndaf Williams and one by the Membership Secretary, Ieuan Wyn Williams.

Bryan writes an interesting article on his ggrandfather's family from Anglesey, a number of whom emigrated to the USA from 1849 onwards. Gwyndaf writes of emigration in a different period when his great aunt's daughter emigrated to Chicago in 1913 and the letters he quotes deal with the difficult time during the Great War. Gwyndaf is able to tell the story because his great aunt kept all the letters in a tin tea box. Many of our ancestors kept such interesting documents but in many cases unthinking decedents threw them away without realising their worth. The families where such documents have survived are very lucky.

Ieuan wrote a short article in the journal a few years ago about his grandfather who emigrated to British Columbia in 1907 but admitted that he had limited knowledge and pleaded for information. He was surprised to be overwhelmed by the response and from the information received he's written an interesting 3 page article. The lesson here is that it is always worth publishing some facts about your family and asking for help, whether it is through articles in a journal or through other means such as the Rootsweb lists, as there is always a chance that there is someone out there who has information that can be relevant to your research. Your local Family History Society is made up of people with the same interest as yourself in family history research and they are all interested in helping each other.

All but two of these articles, plus 6 other substantial articles, have been written by members of the Gwynedd FHS and I never cease to be amazed by the amount of research and documentation that is being undertaken. One article by a non-member is about the Welsh settlement of Arvonia in Virginia based on the development of the slate quarries. The writer, Mr Glenn James, has access to the burials records in Arvonia, including memorial inscriptions in Welsh. He gives his contact details in Gwreiddiau and says that members are welcome to contact him which again is an example of people help each other.

Another interesting article is by Janice B Edwards who lives in Poultney, Vermont, a famous quarrying area to which many Welsh people emigrated. One of the brothers of one of my gggrandfathers emigrated to the USA. The only information I had was from an article in the Welsh language Wesleyan journal, "Yr Eurgrawn" (May 1897) where it stated that Richard R Jones was a deacon in chapel in the USA but it didn't say where! A distant relative living in Toronto managed to trace him to Poultney. Last summer some friends told me about Janice and I contacted her by email and almost by return she sent me a series of photos of his grave! Amazing kindness. I show a photo of the grave of Richard R Jones, 1822 - 1908, and wife Elizabeth, 1835 - 1918. I'm really impressed by the neat and tidy state of the cemetery in Poultney, Vermont

Gwreiddiau Gwynedd is an excellent journal and well worth reading.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Bangor, 1 March (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: Peter Brindley: "Upper Bangor - now and then"

Caernarfon, 24 Chwefror (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, LÃŽn Pafiliwn: Dilwyn Grey-Williams: "John Lloyd, Pensaer"

Dolgellau, 10 Mawrth (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel: Tecwyn Vaughan Jones: "Arferion Caru a Phriodi"

Conwy, 14 February (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: Rev Neil Fairlamb: "Buckeleys of Baron Hill"

Llangefni, 17 February (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Visit to Anglesey Registrar's Office

Pwllheli, 18 Chwefror (In Wales, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod: Richard Jones: "Amgueddfa Werin Sain Fagan"

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd. The next meeting is as follows:

Saturday 12 March: The Eirianfa Centre, Factory Place, Denbigh AGM
R M Owen: "Military Moments"