Week 26 (June 25-July 1) Favorite Name

The given names of our eighteenth and nineteenth century British ancestors were drawn from a surprisingly small pool.  The four most popular male names were carried by one in every two males, and the top thirteen male names were carried by 87% of the male population.

In the 1700s the top five names for each gender were :
Boys - John, William, Thomas, Richard and James
Girls - Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah and Jane

In the 1800s the top five names for each gender were :
Boys - John, William, James, George and Charles
Girls - Mary, Anna, Emma, Elizabeth and Margaret

There were, of course, always fads among names - copying that of the current Monarch and their family, for example, or using a traditional name common in your own family, or following popular fads.  Horatio, for example, made a brief surge in popularity after Nelson's victory at Trafalgar.  Similarly, Adolf disappeared from German communities after World War 2.

Then there were also the commonly used spelling variations, abbreviations and diminutives.  For example, if you don’t know that Polly was a diminutive of Mary or that Nellie was a diminutive of Ellen and Eleanor and Helen, you may struggle to find your ancestors’ entries.  Harry for Henry, Bill for William, Fred or Alf for Alfred, Dick for Richard, Charlie or Lottie for Charlotte, Maggie, Meg or Maisie for Margaret.  Elizabeth was another extremely common name with multiple diminutives - Eliza, Liz, Lizzie, Betty, Betsy, Beth, Bessie, Lisbeth, Liza - the list goes on.  

I have one female ancestor, baptised Elizabeth, who was known throughout her life as Betsy.  This was the name she used in census records, her children's birth/baptism records and on her death certificate and burial record.  The only time I can ever find her referred to as Elizabeth is at her baptism.

Family Tree US Magazine

The latest issue of Family Tree US magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines. 

Inside this month's issue :  

• What's in a (Papal) name?
• Tear down that brick wall
• 23andMe declares bankruptcy
• Budget cuts threaten libraries and archives
• Military Honors
• Best websites
• Signs of life : vital records
• America the beautiful
• Book reports
• Tree tips
• Fraternal records
• Using the FamilySearch Catalogues
• Saving diaries, calendars and planners
• Using record hints
• Organising genelaogy 

Website Wednesday - Families in British India Society

Did your family spend time in India during the time of British rule?   The Families In British India Society (FIBIS) is a self-help organisation devoted to members researching their British India family history and the background against which their ancestors led their lives in India under British rule.

Their database has a number of resources available to search, and recently 15,376 names from the Times of India arrival and departure notices for 1896 have now been uploaded to the FIBIS database website. This batch comprises of 8,023 arrivals and 7,353 departures and brings the total number of arrival and departure notices transcribed by this project to 501,298.

The FIBIS database contains a number of other resources, including bonds, cemeteries and monuments, censuses, civil service records, directories, maritime records, military records, railways, schools and orphanages, and wills and probate.  All are fee to search.

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue : 

• Artificial intelligence How AI is transforming genealogy
• First names What your ancestors' forenames can tell you
• The history of driving How cars transformed Britain
• Eureka Moment Lynne Dixon discovered she's related to a pioneering female architect
• The Irish Famine The best websites
• Around Britain Berkshire family history
• And more... 

 

Week 25 (June 18-24) FAN Club

One of my earliest memories as a child is of being allowed to stay up late to watch reruns of the original TV series of Star Trek.  My mother, sister and I were all huge fans, and even my father became involved in our Trekkie obsession. 

For several years mum was a member of the Star Trek fan club Astrex, and I can remember receiving their newsletters in the post and us all sitting down to hear the latest news and read fan stories.  

When the Star Trek films first began with Star Trek : the Motion Picture in 1979, it was a huge treat to go to our local cinema and later to watch the films at home on video and later DVD.

When cleaning out the family home I rediscovered some old copies of Astrex, including several short stories written by mum.  I was also quite surprised to uncover a certificate from the fan club sent to mum for her contributions.

A member of the fan club indeed!

Week 24 (June 11-17) Artistic

This week's prompt is 'Artistic', and to the best of my knowledge there have been no artists in my ancestry.   As a child, however, I learned that my mother had been quite the musician in her youth and had played the guitar with a Melbourne band.

I can remember being fascinated by my mother's guitar - cream coloured with beautiful paintwork - which she usually kept wrapped in a blanket on top of a wardrobe in my parents' bedroom.  Occasionally she would take it down and let me admire it, but I have no memory of ever seeing her play it until I started learning to play myself in my last year of primary school.

I would later discover that mum had auditioned and been shortlisted to play in the backing band for pop due Bill and Boyd after they first came to Australia from New Zealand.  This opportunity was not to be, however, and soon after mum began working as a governess in rural New South Wales, where she met my father.

After marriage and children mum rarely played her guitar again, and it stayed tucked away in storage.  After she passed away in 2015 I rediscovered her guitar, and it came with me to my new home.

Website Wednesday - Arolsen Archives

The Arolsen Archives, formerly known as the International Tracing Service, is a free database that consists of records from Second World War concentration camps, including prisoner cards and death notices.  In total, they contain the names of over 2.2 million victims from across Europe.

The Arolsen Archives are an international center on Nazi persecution with the world’s most comprehensive archive on the victims and survivors of National Socialism. The collection has information on about 17.5 million people and belongs to the UNESCO’s Memory of the World. It contains documents on the various victim groups targeted by the Nazi regime and is an important source of knowledge, especially for younger generations.

To this day, the Arolsen Archives answer inquiries about some 20,000 victims of Nazi persecution every year. For decades, clarifying fates and searching for missing persons were the central tasks of the institution, which was founded by the Allies in 1948 as the “International Tracing Service”.
Research and education are more important than ever to inform today’s society about the Holocaust, concentration camps, forced labor and the consequences of Nazi crimes. The Arolsen Archives are building up a comprehensive online archive so that people all over the world can access the documents and obtain information.