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Topic: Berkshire FHS (Read 737 times)
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Mean_genie
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Most FHSs were set up in the 1970s and were based around like-minded enthusiasts in a particular area, where the benefits were that you could meet other 'addicts' once a month or so, to swap notes and take part in projects. Societies produced journals that were of particular benefit to members who had ancestral interests in the area, but did not live locally. This was a great way to plug in to local expertise, and exchange information with other 'remote' researchers.
All this of course was before the Internet age, when you can now do things very quickly online that were simply not possible before. Societies now have websites, and some have embraced the digital age more wholeheartedly than others, but you make a valid point, what is the benefit of joining if you don't live in the area? It's not the fault of the societies (I have no special insight into Berkshire or most other societies), but many of them are Registered Charities, which means that they have to be careful about any privileges that members have over non-members in the form of discounts etc - I'm sure legal eagles will correct me if I'm wrong on this.
So the benefits to a 'remote' member would be the journal, and what you might call the 'networking' aspect of a a society. And being a remote member means that you will escape being roped into committees and making the tea at meetings  . People also join societies to contribute, and take part in indexing and other projects in an area where they have an interest.
Having said all that, I'm not currently a member of any society, although I have served my time in the past, honest!
Does that help?
Mean_genie
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behindthefrogs
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I agree with Mean-genie that the only advantages for the remote member of BFHS are the journal, which is above average in my opinion, and the networking possibilities.
As a member who lives in Berkshire the search room which is in the same building as the Reading Registry Office and next door to the Record Office is very useful. The society has six branches in the county each of which hold monthly meetings.
David
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Living in Berkshire. Origin Northampton & Milton Keynes DETAILS OF THE FOLLOWING NAMES CAN BE FOUND IN SURNAME INTERESTS AT FOOT OF PAGE Wilson, Higgs, Buswell, PARCELL, Matthews, TAMKIN, Seckington, Pates, Williams, Webb, Arthur, MAYNARD, Caves, Norman, Winch, Culverhouse, Drakeley. Johnson, Routledge, SHIRT, SAICH, Mills, SAUNDERS, EDLIN, Perry, Vickers, Pakeman, Griffiths, Marston, Turner, Child, Sheen, Gray, Woolhouse Census Info is Crown Copyright from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
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Mean_genie
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Jill
You asked a specific question but you raised an important and much wider issue, which is the role of family history societies in the modern world. In their heyday, the societies played an crucial and pioneering role in enabling people to research their family histories. there were hardly any books on family history, so they wrote and published their own; there were very few indexes so members got stuck in and compiled them (without computers!). Societies built up relationships with record offices, to their mutual benefit, and much more.
Now the Internet has opened up family history research to a much wider audience than we could ever have dreamed of, and I am worried that many societies haven't kept up with the pace of change. I am very pleased to hear that Berks FHS has a members-only e-mail discussion list, because I think this is exactly the sort of thing that societies should be doing. It's great to go to meetings and meet other researchers face to face, but most people start out on their research online these days, and are entitled to ask exactly the same question as you, why should they join a society?
Mean_genie
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behindthefrogs
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The other point to be aware of is that even today many of the new transcriptions being available, particularly those of local content are carried out by Family History Societies.
We are talking about BFHS who are currently involved in parish register transcriptions, local BMD transcriptions and gravestone recording. Some of these can be carried out by remote members. For example the BMD transciptions being done by BFHS are being done from digital images which they provide on CD. Getting involved in these activities is a good reason for joining your local FHS even if you have very few local family interests.
David
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Living in Berkshire. Origin Northampton & Milton Keynes DETAILS OF THE FOLLOWING NAMES CAN BE FOUND IN SURNAME INTERESTS AT FOOT OF PAGE Wilson, Higgs, Buswell, PARCELL, Matthews, TAMKIN, Seckington, Pates, Williams, Webb, Arthur, MAYNARD, Caves, Norman, Winch, Culverhouse, Drakeley. Johnson, Routledge, SHIRT, SAICH, Mills, SAUNDERS, EDLIN, Perry, Vickers, Pakeman, Griffiths, Marston, Turner, Child, Sheen, Gray, Woolhouse Census Info is Crown Copyright from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
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Mean_genie
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That's really good to know. There's no substitute for local knowledge, particularly on some kinds of records, and even if you are on the other side of the world you can learn so much from taking part in projects. And I'm sure there's no shortage of people wanting to join in - I know there are several Rootschatters helping to indexing pages from the Irish BMD indexes, and I expect there are others working on FreeBMD and more. All it needs is the people in the area with access to records, ie the societies, to organize it.
Mean_genie
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jillruss
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Gt Gt Grandfather Shepherd 1827-1910
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A valid point - about volunteers for transcribing.
I have volunteered my services to an FHS which I've recently joined - but so far, no one's taken me up on it!
In my experience, Berks FHS are pretty good. Not as good as some (Bucks FHS and GS, Oxon FHS spring to mind) but much better than most.
One point I would like to make about the Berks FHS - and I don't know if they're held back by lack of cooperation by the local records office/archives (that particular bugbear has been covered at length in another thread, but I can't find the link just at the moment) - but their parish register coverage is not too good. Baptisms in particular are virtually impossible to find if they're not on the IGI, unless you want to pay rather a lot for Berks Records to search - even then, if you're not sure of the parish, you can end up paying £20+ for a nil return (I found that out the hard way  ) )
Since this seems to have turned into a discussion about FHSs in general - I know the FHSs all rely on volunteers, so it's difficult to be critical but I have one criticism of a lot of them. Perhaps it's just a personal gripe and other people find them vastly informative - but why do so many resources seem to be chanelled into producing books of Monumental Inscriptions?
When I first started FH, I invested in a few local ones - and I didn't find a single MI for any of my ancestors. Surely, most of them are going to be very recent (older ones tend not to have survived) so there are other ways of finding these more recent ancestors (censuses). Also, if you do venture back into 18th century and earlier, you'll tend to find that the only ones to survive are those of more well-to-do people. Again, these people tend to be easier to find in other documents (wills). If, like me and I suspect the vast amount of us, your ancestors were mostly ag labs in the south and weavers/labourers in the north, you're going to be very lucky indeed to find an MI for them.
I know that some of these monuments are in a bad state and should ideally be recorded before they disappear altogether but, as FHSs have limited resources, shouldn't they be using them to concentrate on PR transcriptions and other documents (settlement orders etc) which would be of value to just about everyone?
Just thought I'd throw that into the arena - I'm sure lots of people will disagree!! 
Jill
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See Surname Interests Table +
Major brickwalls:
John Frith mge to Fanny, Bucks? c 1798
Bathsheba Boothroyd bp W Yks c1802
John Bishop bp E Yks c1758
Joseph Symonds mg to Sarah, prob Berks c 1735-40
John Horwood mg to Martha, Berks c 1735-40
Sarah Sculler bp Berks area c 1675
Paul Phillips bp Berks/Bucks c 1720
William Newell bp Berks/Bucks/Oxon c 1765
Richard Troughton mg to Jane, Westmoreland c 1732
Mary Simon bp Shrops c.1795
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behindthefrogs
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Two thoughts.
Recording MIs is a day out in the open air and so a complementary activity to transcribing.
As prviously discussed on other threads BFHS have huge restrictions on their PR transcribing due to the constraints that the records office places. These restrict the number of people who can make themselves available to transcribe and also what they can do with the results.
David
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Living in Berkshire. Origin Northampton & Milton Keynes DETAILS OF THE FOLLOWING NAMES CAN BE FOUND IN SURNAME INTERESTS AT FOOT OF PAGE Wilson, Higgs, Buswell, PARCELL, Matthews, TAMKIN, Seckington, Pates, Williams, Webb, Arthur, MAYNARD, Caves, Norman, Winch, Culverhouse, Drakeley. Johnson, Routledge, SHIRT, SAICH, Mills, SAUNDERS, EDLIN, Perry, Vickers, Pakeman, Griffiths, Marston, Turner, Child, Sheen, Gray, Woolhouse Census Info is Crown Copyright from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
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behindthefrogs
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Birth briefs are trees of about four generations submitted by members showing all their direct ancestors.
The reason that BFHS has a much larger marriage index is that it inherited a lot of it from work done long before the current record office regime partly in the original churches.
David
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Living in Berkshire. Origin Northampton & Milton Keynes DETAILS OF THE FOLLOWING NAMES CAN BE FOUND IN SURNAME INTERESTS AT FOOT OF PAGE Wilson, Higgs, Buswell, PARCELL, Matthews, TAMKIN, Seckington, Pates, Williams, Webb, Arthur, MAYNARD, Caves, Norman, Winch, Culverhouse, Drakeley. Johnson, Routledge, SHIRT, SAICH, Mills, SAUNDERS, EDLIN, Perry, Vickers, Pakeman, Griffiths, Marston, Turner, Child, Sheen, Gray, Woolhouse Census Info is Crown Copyright from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
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Mean_genie
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Jill
I think that you answered your own point about recording MIs, in that they are unusually vulnerable to the depredations of time, while most other records will still be there in a few years. But it's not just a question of choosing to put resources into MIs at the expense of other projects, in my experience. In a former life I was for a while the Project Co-ordinator for a rather small FHS, which has a very impressive collection of MI transcriptions. The main reason for this was one very dedicated and inspirational individual who led an intrepid team through many a churchyard and was also rather good at chatting up vicars and getting permission. Meanwhile I was trying to drum up volunteers for other projects, which was like drawing hens' teeth most of the time. It was always a mystery to me why people would happily hack through wet undergrowth, squinting at barely-legible and barely-accessible indentations in stone, while I struggled to find people willing to sit at home or in a nice warm record office occasionally, with some lovely transcription sheets and fairly easy-to-read registers.
My own particular favourite records are those of the Poor Law, which says rather a lot about my ancestry. I am very fortunate in that the those records have been very well-indexed where many of my ancestors come from, and if I were rstill involved with indexing projects these are the ones I would be lobbying for.
Mean_genie
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