New Database Helps Trace British Roots
In 1993, I wrote about the “British Isles Genealogical Register,” a project of the Federation of Family History Societies in Great Britain. This project was to register surnames being researched in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands - and in this way make your interests known to thousands of other family historians worldwide. Here is an update on the register, as found in the May 1994 Family Tree Magazine (published in England).
The advertising stated the Register would be published by county sections, meaning the Yorkshire section will contain only Yorkshire surnames, thus helping family historians to concentrate their interests within one county.
The Federation of Family History Societies will publish those sections that are not published by the respective region, but will coordinate the entire project.
The database contains 250,000-plus entries from more than 17,000 contributors. All entries received by Feb. 1, 1994, have been included. The only way to access this database of surnames is to contact the county history society in your county of interest: for instance, if you wish to inquire about a surname in Cornwall, contact the Cornwall Family History Society.
If you mail me a self-addressed, stamped envelope in care of The Spokesman-Review, I will send you the list of societies and the cost to access the database. (There is about a $10 fee to contact each society.)
On other subjects
The Victoria County Historical Commission has begun to compile a computer database of immigrants who arrived in the U.S. through the Port of Indianola, Texas. From the landing of Prince Solm’s German settlers in December 1844 until the destructive hurricane in 1886, Indianola was second only to Galveston as the major port of entry on the Texas coast. Thousands of German, Polish, Czech, English, Irish, French and other settlers stepped ashore in Indianola to begin a new life.
If your ancestor came to America through that port, the commission would like to include him or her in its database. Information will be accepted from diaries, deeds, Bibles, church records, family accounts, obituaries, news articles and official immigration records.
To obtain the form needed to register your ancestor, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Project Coordinator, Victoria County Historical Commission, 417, Cottonwood St., Victoria, TX 77904, or call (512) 575-0049.
Lake Jane Press, a Washington-based company (P.O. Box 7563, Bonney Lake, WA 98390-0952), can help preserve your past by doing the hard work of compiling and publishing the data for you. Clients can supply their family history through forms, prose, or orally by tape. You can choose from a variety of albums to contain your family history. The cost varies from $15 to more than $300. For more information, write to the above address or call 800-216-7189.
Jackie Smith Arnold has written “Kinship, It’s All Relative,” a delightful little book that explains all the simple and/or complex relationships of kinship.
For instance, do you know the degree of blood relationship, or consanguinity, between yourself and your first cousins? Do you understand the “removes?” Have any questions about adoption, extended or blended families?
And what about terms - are you aware of the variety of marriages? According to Arnold, there are five main types of marriages:
The ceremonial marriage is performed in accordance with the law of the state in which it takes place.
The common-law marriage is a private arrangement without a ceremony or observance of legal requirements.
The consensual marriage requires spoken vows confirming a couple’s intent, but after the vows are spoken the couple doesn’t have to live together.
A proxy marriage requires special permission because it is allowed only when unusual circumstances keep the couple apart. Marriage by proxy allows substitutes to take the vows for the couple who may be hundreds of miles apart.
The last is a secret marriage, which is a legal marriage but kept quiet. It is a misdemeanor to publicize a secret marriage.
Each section in Arnold’s book includes a beautifully appropriate quote, as witnessed by this one from the “Code of Hammurabi” in the adoption section: “If a man has taken a young child to sonship, and has reared him up, no one (else) has a claim against that nursling.”
If you would like this fun and informative 120-page book for $9.95, call the Genealogical Publishing Co. at 800-296-6687, or write them at 1001 N. Calvert, Baltimore, MD 21202.
Today’s tip
The Swiss National Tourist Office, 608 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10020, offers a free brochure, “A Genealogical How-To for Americans of Swiss Descent.” One of the society’s functions is to collect names and addresses of individuals researching Swiss families. Write today!
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