Organising Genealogical and Research Papers

Yesterday I took the time to join in a hangout on air with Jill who blogs at Geniaus.

The discussion was about organising genealogical research, which was triggered by a blog post written by Sharon who blogs at Gathering Dust and I shared, probably somewhat badly what I do with my research. You can read Sharon's post HERE

Pauleen Cass shared her thoughts via her blog and I thought I would explain further what I do.

Firstly, let me explain that I began researching before the internet existed as we know it. I gathered research by visiting archives and using the postal service.

I also have a family history where my maternal line has lived within the parimeters of three Counties in England - Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire for around 300 years. It is therefore not too surprising that I have some surnames that occur more than once and several lines that cross over through intermarriage.

I also have the added complication that my husband's surname does on occasions become Goacher instead of Goucher and I have Goacher's in my maternal line. There does not appear to be any connection between my Goachers to my husband's family but.......

• My genealogical software program, I use Roots Magic contains a file called "Main File" 
• I have a physical folders called Main File (JDG) for my maternal ancestry and
• I have a digital folder called Main File (JDG)
• I have a physical folder called Main File (SPG) for my husband's ancestry and
• I have a digital folder called Main File (SPG)

• I also have two filing cabinets which hold suspension files such as shown in the picture here. I have a file for each surname where the material does not (or does not currently) provide a link to my own ancestry.

• I also have three drawers and a digital files of material relating to my three One Place Studies
• Puttenham (and Wanborough)
• Sutera, Sicily
• Walnut Tree Close, Guildford *

• I also have two drawers for my two One-Name or surname researcher relating to my two Guild of One-Name registered studies of
• Orlando (commenced 2002)
• Worship. (commenced 2005)

I also have numerous papers and digital files that relate to other places where my ancestors lived such as

• Geelong Victoria
• Wonersh Surrey
• Wagga Wagga NSW
• Guildford Surrey in general

There is also my trusty set of Index Cards which I talked about here. I have scanned them, and I have the original cards, or at least I have at the moment. In addition I have every notebook and journal I have kept, all the way back to 1982. I always keep the first two pages free as my index and index as I go along. 

One-Name Study or Surname Research

The Orlando study currently sits at approximately 50,000 entries on a mixture of digital and paper. My plan is to put all the material online with the appropriate source material. I have a website and a blog and as I gradually add the material I add the details to the master index which is located in Google Drive and is available for everyone to see.

The same will be carried out for the Worship One-Name Study, although that has around 10,000 references.

When I work on family reconstructions for my these two surnames and for my Puttenham One Place Study I use Legacy, inspired by the +Legacy Virtual Users' Group Community. 

Excel

I keep a track of all the material I have and where it is located. For this I use Excel. I also use Excel for my One Place Studies - index of parish records and in the case of my road study * I track the houses by number order. Each item recorded as a separate event. I can then filter by name or by property.

At the beginning of EVERY spread sheet I have a methodology sheet. Here I advise what the material is and how it is kept. 

Final Words

I am sure that my organising way seems complex to some. That is probably due to the mix of written and digital files. I am gradually scanning and archiving my paper mountain but to process research that nearly spans three decades it could take another three quite easily!

In essence my work is broken down into segments

• My own family
• My specific studies - Surnames / Places / items
• Other material that does not fit and perhaps never will!

For each of those there is digital and paper and gradually it will all be digital with the exception of my own family. I rather like having that in the files and every now and again I glance through it.

I use Evernote as a premium user and have an electronic inbox notebook where I collate material until it is processed or sorted. The Orlando Evernote folder currently sits at 212 entries and at some point they will be processed into the digital structure, added to the master index and master index. The original Evernote item will move from the Orlando folder to the Archive folder where I won't see it again unless I search for that specific item or it appears in search results.

I also use One-Note and whilst I originally love it, I have found in the last year or so that I prefer Evernote. I still have access to my One-Note files and over time will transfer them to Evernote. I have written blog posts about One-Note and Evernote and have shared the various links below.

The bottom line is there is NO right or wrong way to created and organise genealogical and historical material - there is only YOUR way! Do what feels right to you and make sure you write instructions for how the material is laid out.

Further Posts of Interest

• Index Cards (13th March 2012)
• Developing a digital organisation scheme (14th January 2012)
• Evernote and Saving Emails  (19th November 2013)
• More on Evernote (20th November 2013)
• Embracing One-Note (24th September 2013)
• More on One-Note (13th May 2014)
• Talking and Playing with Evernote (6th March 2014)
• One-Note >> Evernote (10th September 2014)
• Evernote Genealogy Community
• Evernote Unofficial Community
• Evernote Genealogists on Face Book

Video: Thousands of Years of Human Migration in Five Minutes

One of the things I love the most about the internet is the facility to share fascinating material, which opens our eyes to some interesting concepts, and some basic ones at that.

Yesterday on the Guild of One-Name Studies mailing list, a member shared this video.



This video, in a gentle and yet quick fashion shares with us the migration of people, from across the globe. spreading surnames and simplifying some of the core aims of a One-Place Study - understanding why people from "our places" migrate or arrive at our chosen place of study.

The scientific study paper was identified by another member of the Guild and that can be read here.

I was enjoyed watching the video, noticing the cultural magnets in various cities and why some places became fashionable after exploration in another. Whilst, as researchers we already knew some of these things the video puts the data together in such a visual manner it enables us to have some context and gives us further scope for increased understanding into our research, whether our own, or our specific name and places studies, or perhaps all three.

Other sources
Discover Magazine
FreeBase

Thanks to Guild members, Jim and Debbie who shared the various data.

Tuesday's Tip ~ Where Family History and Local History Unite*

Image courtesy of the
Project via Facebook

I recently spent some time on the newly launched site Lives of the First World War, a joint effort between the Imperial War Museum and FindmyPast. On the day it was announced I nipped on and set up an account and then wanted to gather my images and data for the First Cousin of my Grandfather; William James West was just 20 years old when he died in September 1918.

I was then pondering on the data I had collated for the Shared Endeavour Project which is the brain child of the Society for One-Place Studies. You can hear about the Shared Endeavour Project via this YouTube video



I have three One-Place Studies registered with the Society. One of the studies is for a road in central Guildford. There are nine individuals from that road that I have tracked so far and nine seems such a lot for just one road.

What I discovered, is that via the site of the Lives of the First World War you can create a community and thereby have your Shared Endeavour material together in what the site is calling a community. Here is the link to my Walnut Tree Close Community. I am still adding my individuals to the site at present, but what a fabulous way to bring research all together.



*"Where Family History and Local History Unite" is the tagline used by the Society for One-Place Studies

Genchat, Places and One-Place Studies

Yesterday I and a few of my +Society for One-Place Studies colleagues took part in #genchat hosted by +Jen Baldwin. What a great hour it was and so informative, with plenty of information and hints for experienced and newbies to the concept of a One-Place Study.

Over the course of an hour we answered via Tweet the following eight questions:

1. What is a One Place Study in the world of genealogy?
2. Who conducts these studies? & Why do people conduct these studies?
3. What is the benefit of a One PLACE study over a One NAME study?
4. What resources are available and unique to a OPS?
5. How do you chose a location? is it important that you live close to conduct a OPS?
6. What tools do you use for your OPS? Does genealogy software help? What else do you put into play?
7. What elements are necessary before you begin? What goes into your overall plan for you OPS?
8. What areas are we all focusing on today? Where is your OPS or where do you think you would have an interest?

Here is the Chatter details embedded for you and further down is some extra resources that might be of interest.

Tweets about "#genchat"

Extra Resources

In December 2013 the Society for One-Place Studies hosted a hangout on area where we discussed the topic of choosing your place

• The Society YouTube Channel
• The Society Google+ Community
• Putting Your Ancestors in their Place by Dr Janet Few and a book review
• The Society for One-Place Studies Website
• Follow us on Twitter #1placestudies
• Connect with us at Facebook
• Our recent blog post - Community Mapping by +Tessa Keough 

Society for One-Place Studies - Learn and Do Hangout

The February Society for One-Place Studies hangout is scheduled for 8pm GMT on Friday 28th February, so this Friday! The discussion topic is Learn and Do. We shall have a discussion about the latest book about One-Place Studies written by Janet Few and much more!



The Society has a G+ Community and you can visit the Society blog and website for more information.

Putting Your Ancestors in their Place ~ A Guide to One Place Studies by Janet Few

I recently had the opportunity to read a review copy of the latest book by Janet Few.

There are so few books dedicated to the subject of One Place Studies therefore this is a very welcomed addition to the genealogical and local history arena.

The book has been thoroughly researched and whilst is heavily slanted at such studies in the United Kingdom, those who are pursuing studies, or contemplating studies outside of the United Kingdom would without a doubt benefit from reading this book. In my personal opinion it is an absolute guide for those interested in the places of our ancestors or of a community.

The book itself is divided into three distinct sections, over 12 chapters. Setting the scene, sources and the final section is pulling the data all together. Starting with the definition of a One Place Study, choosing the boundaries of a study and considers the options if the study has been previously undertaken or already exists.

We then move onto chapter two; the reconstruction of the community or place, looking at maps and locations. Understanding the boundaries, looking at buildings, farms, fields and streets.Chapter three centres around the population of your place of interest, analysing the population and social structure and collating biographical information of key individuals.

Chapter four commences the section focusing on sources. In this chapter locating sources is fully explained.

Chapter five features the time period of after 1900 and is a very comprehensive chapter. Looking at the Census material of the twentieth century, photographs and pictures, in addition to other forms of media, oral history and looks at the fascinating subject of child mortality and the effect that had on the community and its sustainability. Also explored is the 1910 Inland Revenue Valuation Survey and whilst that is a source that solely covers England and Wales, it does provide as a potential research idea for areas outside of England and Wales. Does anything exist for your location in your part of the world? This chapter also includes directories, community minutes and of course the effects of the First World War. Those that served, named on a memorial, Rolls of Honour, Voters Lists. Land Registry and the National Farm Survey from the 1940's.

Chapter six looks at the nineteenth century and again is a comprehensive chapter. Starting at understanding the Census material that covers this period, household structure and how the community and society dealt with any disabilities. Tithe Maps are an important feature in this chapter as is understanding the roles that religion and the church played in the life of a community. This chapter also looks at cemeteries and crematoriums, Education and school, newspapers and parish magazines.

Chapter seven looks at the eighteenth century in a very comprehensive manner, covering Manorial records, land taxes, early military records & militia, apprentices, gravestones and documentation that was traditionally retained by the parish in the Parish Chest.

Chapter eight covers the seventeenth century. Here featured are Protestation Oath Rolls, Hearth Tax, Compton Census, Poll taxes and Surname Survey.

Chapter nine features the period before 1600 and therefore covers the Doomsday Survey, early taxes, Chancery courts, wills and Parish Records. Chapter ten features the issue around today's census.

Chapter eleven and twelve cover the last section and the issue of pulling together all the data available into a workable archive and project. Chapter eleven looks at linking people, and covers migration both into and from your place of study, trades and occupations; residential histories and families within the area that are of importance to your place, and perhaps remain in the location and standing for generations.

The final chapter features around the topic of publishing your study, whether that is through a book or website. It also looks at the aspect of funding for a study and the importance of the future of your study.

The final pages are given over to examples of some studies, a comprehensive bibliography, magazines and journals, Societies and addresses, courses and an index.

At the end of each chapter there is further reading and of course many website addresses are presented so that you can explore as you read. There is also projects that can be undertaken as you read. I particularly like this idea, as it enables you to look at your place and community, layer by layer, by person and surname and understand how the individuals were in relation to their community.

This is a good grounding for those undertaking One Place Studies anywhere. The resources are obviously aimed at those within England and Wales, but that itself can give rise to contemplation of what similar records exist in your location where ever you or your study are in the world. I personally recommend this thoroughly researched and comprehensive guide to anyone who has an interest in understanding the places in which their ancestors lived.

Putting Your Ancestors in their Place ~ A Guide to One Place Studies by Janet Few is published by Family History Partnership in February 2014 and is being launched at Who Do You Think You Are Live in London this weekend. Janet is giving a talk to accompany her book and you can purchase signed copies at the London event.

Copies are also available from the author direct and from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA). Currently the book is so new there are no copies available via Amazon at the moment because the official launch is not until 22nd February!

ISBN - 9781906280437. Author's website

Society of One-Place Studies Hangout - Choosing Your Place

A very interesting discussion took place today; The Society for One-Place Studies monthly hangout. The subject for discussion was Choosing your Place.

Tracing Your House History by Gill Blanchard

I was recently given a copy of this book to review and what a delight it was.

This book is more than a guide to researching the history of your house, or a house of interest. It is a font of interest if you are seeking to research and understand the social and domestic lives of people and their communities from early times.

The book is comprehensively laid out over 7 chapters and gently walks readers and researchers through where to find information. Starting with indexes, catalogue's and transcriptions before moving along to finding archives in Records offices, local history libraries, heritage, local and family history organisations and numerous on line resources.

The section on dating your home and house style is very comprehensive, starting with looking at architects and their role and then moving along to dating a building.

This nicely links into the third chapter which features architecture styles across the ages, commencing with Prehistoric through Norman, Medieval, Tudor, Stuart, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian times. This chapter also looks at Modern homes, before moving onto discuss and provide resources for model villages, Garden Cities and Philanthropic Schemes, new towns and council housing. Also touched upon is the Public Health and slum clearances, why they were necessary and what gave rise to them in the first place along with locating the redevelopment and clearance records.

The book progresses to the process of building local knowledge, by looking at local histories, the importance of oral histories, local tales & legends and the foundations they can provide in research. This is followed by two important areas; finding out about local history and then about the resources of Societies, groups and information. Moving on from that is a section that looks at the visuals of such a study; photographs and postcards, along with paintings and drawings which add illustrative social context to your study.

Chapter 5 is a very full and comprehensive chapter on resources. Many will be already known to family historians, such as Birth, Marriage and Death records, Parish records, and Census returns. Also included is business and occupation records, directories and gazetteers, Electoral registers and poll books, Fire Insurance records, Glebe and estate records. Various taxes are looked at, such as Hearth, Window and Land taxes. Land registry, deeds, Manorial records, Maps and plans. The National Farm Survey 1941-1943 which is a an often neglected source in family history research, Quarter session records, Land Owner returns 1873 – 1876 and Valuation Office Survey 1910 – 1920 and finally Wills. A real bonus for this chapter is the inclusion of the useful and comprehensive time frame for each resource.

The final two chapters deal with how you can present and write your own house history, but similarly this can apply should you be researching a One-Place study, before moving along to the directory of resources looking at Organisations, Websites and a selected Bibliography. There is an index at the end of the book.

All the way through there are illustrations in black and white with links to numerous and various web pages.

This book has been thoroughly researched and presented; and I believe it should be considered the book for those researching houses or a One-Place Study. It was a true delight to read and review.

Disclaimer – I was provided with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Announcing the Society for One-Place studies

The following announcement was written by the Society for One-Place Studies:

"We, the founder members are proud to announce the launch of the 'Society for One-Place Studies', a 'not-for-profit' organisation for individuals and societies with an interest in family history and local history.

The Society has used the websites of John Palmer and Alex Coles' websites as the foundation for this new organisation. The aims of the Society are to encourage and assist those involved in one-place studies and to advance the education of the general public in these types of studies. The newly designed website shares good practice, ideas and methodology, promoting the research principles and problem solving techniques required in historical and genealogical research on a particular locality.

A truly global organisation from the outset, the Committee members are situated around the world from New Zealand to England and the USA and in the first week since its announcement, the Society has nearly forty enthusiastic members who represent studies in eight different countries.

The cost of membership to the Society is just £10 per annum with the option of registering your place of interest for a further (one-off) £10 fee per study. This can be a road, hamlet, village, town ....whatever! The Society provides an online study profile and a dedicated email address for registered studies and a plethora of resources including a fascinating quarterly newsletter in the Members' area of the website. We have many other developments in the pipeline to expand the service we offer to our members.

So, what are you waiting for? Take a look at the website and if you are interested, join!"

The Society for One-Place Studies may be found at:http://one-place-studies.org.

Those Thursday Places - One Place Studies

I recently had cause to contemplate the actual definition of a one place study. Having had the question presented I stopped, thought and debated.

I have an interest in three individual places

• Puttenham in Surrey (linked to the nearby parish of Wanborough). I have family connections to the parish from 1724.
• Sutera in Sicily which is central to my particular Orlando ancestry, Orlando being one of my one name studies
• Walnut Tree Close in Guildford Surrey linked to my family history, but the study started in 1984 before my genealogical interest became formalised.

In each of these studies I am interested in the people, places, buildings, occupations and much, much more.

In all three of these cases I am genealogically linked, but in a similar vein I am interested in the history of my house, but do not plan to proceed to the next level and study the town in which I live. The reason for that is that despite living here I do not feel a connection to the town.

Do you need to feel a "connection" to your study?

I don't know if it is vital, but I think there needs to be an question or X  factor, a link, a catalyst that makes us ask the question or at least be interested in the area.  The moment we ask that question or we start digging into archives we are probably on the point of no return!

Over the years I have gathered information about Lockerbie in Scotland. I feel no particular connection to the town, but my husband does. It is also the site of the air disaster in 1988 and therefore I have been interested in the various aspects of the history of the area. I have visited the memorial gardens many times.

I say gardens because there are more than one. There is a central monument located at the cemetery to all those who lost their lives, over 270 people; all those on the plane and several residents whose lives and homes were desecrated as the fuselage came to rest on the ground in Lockerbie. There is a memorial garden located where the houses were and there is a memorial room at the nearby hamlet of Tundergarth where the majority of the fuselage came to rest.

So over the last 20 years I have visited the gardens, photographed the memorial and plaques and paid my respects with my husband. My husband lost a friend in the disaster. Despite that connection, albeit, third hand I have no interest on taking that interest to a more formal level. 

There are other places, either towns or villages, specific buildings or buildings of a specific nature that hold an interest for me. The interest is there as perhaps peripheral research; flesh on the bones of other research.

I still have not come up with a definitive definition of a one place study and in broad terms I doubt anyone will. Each study will be different in terms of content and reasoning. There will obviously be common factors, such as the records available - parish records, census, maps; naming just a few.

Ultimately if you research for whatever reason an area, and gather a mixture of information depending on why your are researching, regardless if you are coming to the project with a genealogical or historical mindset, or a mixture of the two, then you are probably doing a one place study.

Welcome aboard!

Family Trees

Yesterday over at the Facebook group called The Organised Genealogist there was a discussion about public trees versus private trees.

I shared the fact that I have one private tree on Ancestry with no source material. I also host the same tree with all the source material and notes on my laptop with appropriate backups. I also shared the fact that I only have one tree. Having shared those details and reading through the other comments, I might review this in the future, but I thought that I might write a blog post and here we are!

My ancestry file is kept in the last version of Family Origins. I am going to change I think, but that will not be until the later part of this year at the earliest. My tree is called Main File and has existed for about 20 years.

Main File is in two parts - an electronic version as I mentioned above and a paper version which is the evidence and proof that supports and develops the electronic file. The paper file effectively starts with me and works back through my ancestors in generation order. The paper file allows me to expand and read what information I have about an ancestor or their siblings. The electronic version does that too, but I like to see the paper!

When I started researching my husband's ancestry that was added to Main File, although his paper file is separate.

• Main File (electronic)  
• Main File (paper)
• JDG - My file
• SPG - hubby's file

Documents that do not fit into the A4 ring binder have a sheet inserted into the A4 binder with the location of the material in a large A3 binder.

The rest of my material exists in a mixture of paper and electronic versions. References that do not fit into my tree are kept in the same format in either an electronic or paper version. The format is a filing cabinet with simply A-Z hanging dividers, with each surname covered. The electronic version is a series of files on an external hard drive.

In the early stages of sorting - showing the structure

The reason for this structure is fairly simple. My maternal line is located in the United Kingdom, in what we refer to as the Home Counties - Surrey, Sussex & Hampshire. For more than 200 hundred years my family in broad terms never moved out of those Counties and frequently crossed the County boundaries. I have therefore a repetition of several surnames - Butcher, Ellis, Denyer, Earle, Harris and Holt is just a few. I even have a Goacher transcribed as Goucher on my Grandmother's line, compared to the Goucher transcribed as Goacher family that I married into. What a headache that is! In fact my own Grandparents were 6th Cousins although they never knew in their lifetimes and I wonder what they would make of that!

I also host two One Name Studies for the surnames of Orlando and Worship. The main bulk of these details are kept in a separate filing cabinet drawer, although the links to Orlando relating to me are in my Main File and the link to the surname of Worship is kept in my husband's Main File.

Information relating to my One Place Studies is held in the filing cabinet and the Puttenham material is located in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet.

I have several family lines that spent time in India as part of the Honourable East India Company and other branches that migrated to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 

So, am I organised? - not a chance! Every day there is a reference made to a new online source, book or a thought that needs to be explored and developed and whilst that exploring is taking place the clock is ticking away merrily.

The plan over the coming months, especially with a pending house move is to reduce the pile of paper and folders left from my previous filing system to a set of nice and tidy files in the filing cabinet. Once that is achieved I plan to go back through the paper main file and transfer my material to a new piece of software ensuring gaps are noted, sources are linked and potential blog posts about specific ancestors are highlighted.

At some point I will have to be strong and stop researching, so that I can re-evaluate what material I have and what I need to do. Organising family history research is actually more important than researching. There is simply no point in continuing to gather information and do nothing with it. It's a bit like going shopping and always buying baked beans, sooner or later you will be swamped with baked beans and not much else. 

Organisation is the key to success of that I am sure.

The debate of public v private trees essentially comes down to trusting other individuals. Some researchers simply acquire others research and hard work. Some subsequently pass that research off as their own. Other researchers, and I believe the majority are honest and want to share equally their information, photos and hypothesis.

Whilst I have a tree on ancestry that is private, but shared access is given to a family member, I prefer to explore my ancestors through this blog and perhaps my web page. That works for me and enables me to share and gain interaction with other researchers.

With genealogy there is no right or wrong way on how we individually share information. The internet allows us to collaborate and explore others concepts, thoughts and by sharing that information we surely become more educated, entertained and rounded individuals, and more often than not build friendships and relationships that would not exist, or would be harder to sustain and maintain without the internet.

The internet has revolutionised the way we undertake genealogy and family history research of that there can be no doubt.

Those Places Thursday - Puttenham Surrey

Puttenham Church - Copyright Julie Goucher July 2004

As a result of extensive research in the rural Surrey parish of Puttenham, the One Place Study was born.

Almost a decade ago; (where did the time go?) I placed some of the information on line. Over the course of that decade I have received a steady trickle of emails and letters from people whose ancestry lies within the parish. For a small parish and enormous amount of people have a connection to Puttenham!

To be honest, I simply became overwhelmed at the amount of correspondence I was receiving, each one requiring a more comprehensive response that had been anticipated. 

In 2003 I had acquired the domain name of www.Puttenham.org.uk which currently points to space on my website, and to about 1/8th of the material. I have exhausted the space available with such a small proportion of the data that I have currently, and of course the study is a continual work in progress.

Something had to be done.

About a year ago, I created a blog with the intention of using that platform to host the Puttenham material. I published a few bits - namely an introduction to the project and a list of material contained within the study currently. I did not advertise the site, but merely wanted some time to reflect and prepare my posts. Was I even happy with the set up?

I am very process driven and wanted to put the material on the blog in order. Now that is simply not an option, especially as the blog always records the latest post as the first item you see. Research of course is not always done in a logical order, because the researcher follows the path of information.  

Over the course of 2013 I am going to be placing the information I have on line, at the blog and then move the domain pointers to that address. The material will be placed in the order I get to it. Not scientific, but I am OK with that! I shall use the labels function as a way of identifying an individual, document, picture etc

The Puttenham (and Wanborough) One Place Study commenced in August 1986 and is a work in progress as well as an obsession!

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 24

Even though I am not sure what the catalyst was for my starting to research my family history, the catalyst for my undertaking a One Place Study was seeing my Great Grandmother's name on the 1881 Census. I remember being so overwhelmed with emotion, here she was, just aged 2. I simply had to know all I could about the village which was embedded into my ancestry.

In the early stages I did like many of us, work back from known to unknown with fairly rapid speed. By the time I was back another two generations from Annie Harris I was firmly addicted and attached to both the parish of Puttenham and to the name of Budd, which I just love! There was even a Rose Budd in the family!

The Budd family were poor, the family featured consistently in the Poor Law Records for their illegitimate children! but regardless, they were part of my family and I felt something for their plight when I read it in the various documents. I wonder what they would make of the world now? These were women who were ridiculed for their "morals" and illegitimacy, yet look at the world today, where it is quite common for women to raise a family whilst unmarried or perhaps have offspring with more than one father. It is a complete turnaround, in what is a relative short space of time, given the history of mankind!

The village itself is a rural one; steeped in history and part of that history was the world occupied by the Curate Charles Kerry. Kerry originated from Derbyshire, yet he spent considerable time in the parish and kept a series of manuscript on the inhabitants of the village. These manuscripts were written at the time and often contained snippets of local history, hearsay & incidentals of village life, there are some parish records details for not just Puttenham but also neighbouring Compton parish and there are a series of pedigrees written at the time by Kerry with the help of those in the relevant family.

Here is the pedigree for the Budd & Strudwick family:



The pedigree contains such incidentals of life for example. There is a reference to William Budd putting his hand down a rabbit hole and being bitten by an Adder snake. The note also says that William put his finger in his mouth and then became a cripple for the rest of his life. I would not have known that from official records - William was born in 1731 in Puttenham, and is not recorded on the census records. There is also a note that Richard Budd who married Sarah Collins and is my direct line of descent had a fine tenor voice and sung in the choir. Another fact that I would have not know. These manuscripts have enabled me to see behind the dates that our ancestors create, and it is these facts that bring them alive and make them people rather than the written word. It is remarkable that the manuscripts survived. The originals were returned the Derbyshire Records Office where Kerry lived. How many more of these manuscripts are in the various parishes across the land, not just here in the UK, but also overseas? These documents were written when there was surely more important things to worry about, perhaps the next meal or the health of a parishioner, yet they were written and I am forever grateful for Charles Kerry.

Word count 576

Those Places Thursday - Puttenham Surrey

(Photo taken July 2004)

Like the majority of Genealogists I started my research by working from the known to the unknown. My major known fact was that my grandfather was born in the Parish of Wanborough, which is the neighboring parish. As I worked back to my great grandmother and beyond, my links with the village of Puttenham were firmly bought home.

By the time I was back four generations I reached the surname of BUDD and on looking through the vast amount of material I established that the Budd family was, in one way or another related to most of the inhabitants of the village. I decided to study the Census material for the village more fully and the day I saw my great grandmothers name listed on an official record was a very special one.

This was the great grandmother who I had sat with as a child and suddenly I realized that I was part of this village and I simply wanted to know all that I could about it. I visited the parish of Puttenham, I had heard stories from my grandfather's sisters about who lived where, who married who and so forth, and in the summer of 1986 decided to visit the village. It was beautiful summer's day, not a rain cloud in sight! and as I wandered through the village I tried imagining the atmosphere of the village at a time, several generations before my grandfather was born.

Someone greeted me from the Puttenham and Wanborough History Society and I was welcomed and introduced to the legend of the Curate Charles Kerry, who produced such a wealth of information, in manuscripts form; it is truly a Genealogical and local History treasure and the Puttenham One Place Study was born.

The Puttenham (and Wanborough) One Place Study commenced in August 1986 and is a work in progress as well as an obsession.

Orlando - One Name Study

I am half Italian, and fascinated with my Italian ancestry. I Registered with the Guild of One Name Studies the name of ORLANDO in February 2002. I've also registered the varients of ORLANDA & ORLANDE. The database is a new one, but is gathering information from all across the globe.

This web page has a search engine facility which show the occurances of a given surname in both Italy and the United States. Here is the occurances of the name Orlando in Italy.


And the United States