Meeting HFHS - The (almost) Empty Index Card

The (almost) Empty Index Card

A lost ancestor who went to Van Dieman's Land voluntarily
Janet Pearson

2.30pm on 8th December

Herts Family History Society

Woolmer Green Village Hall, SG3 6SZ

Hall opens 1.30pm

Meeting HFHS - The Real Gunpowder Plot

The Real Gunpowder Plot

Strange story of the "Gowrie Conspiracy
Gareth Hughes

2.30pm on 17th November

Herts Family History Society Meeting 

Woolmer Green Village Hall, SG3 6SZ

Hall opens 1.30pm

HFHS Meeting - Finding George

Finding George

Tracing a 1st World War Soldier

2.30pm on 27th October

Herts Family History Society Meeting 

Woolmer Green Village Hall, SG3 6SZ

Hall opens 1.30pm

The Census Enumerator strike back

Hertfordshire Family History Society Meeting

19th November

The Enumerator Strikes Back

(A look at the census enumerator's work)

by David Annal

Talk starts 3 pm at the Woolmer Green Village Hall

On the Beat - With the Hertfordshire Police

Hertfordshire Family History Society Meeting

22nd October

On the Beat

(Herts Policing in the Web)

by Julie Gregson

Talk starts 3 pm at the Woolmer Green Village Hall

Herts Family History Society this Saturday

Just a quick reminder that the monthly meeting at Woolmer Green on Saturday, 24th October,  is:

In Grandfather's Footsteps

The speaker is Anne Grimshaw and  relates to the First World War

A Note on Hertfordshire Parish Graveyards

Grave boards at Ayot St Lawrence from a postcard published circa 1905.

I frequently get requests from people who have discovered that their ancestor was buried in a particular parish and are planning to visit - so a brief summary of what they might find is appropriate.

Before about 1800 nearly all burials would have been marked with wooden grave boards, such as the above examples, and some were still being used a hundred years later. Typically after 50 year the wood would be rotten and for many centuries the grave would have been renewed. The very few graveboards that remain will be completely unreadable unless they have been renewed. 

While a few late 17th century grave were given headstones they typical materials used in Hertfordshire mean that often it is not even possible to see if there was an inscription. During the 19th century the use of gravestones became common - and in most of the towns the churchyards fill up and town cemeteries were opened - and burials ceased in the church graveyard. 

Maintaining a graveyard full of stones of the long deceased can be an expensive business and many church graveyards have been tidies up - particularly in towns. This may (if you are lucky) means laying the stone flat - inscription up - so it can be mowed over. In other cases stones are leaned against the churchyard wall, used to make paths (and in one case I have seen the walls round a compost heap) or taken to the tip. - Some 50 years ago I was horrified to find that the beautiful pink granite slab on one of my great great grandfather's tombs had been scrapped in this way.

So if you are planning a visit be sure to check the burial register (at HALS or online at FindMyPast). Find out if the Herts Family History Society have indexed what is left. It can also help to look for online photographs of the church (Google satellite or street views, Geograph, etc) to see if any tombstones remain.

Parish Registers

Further advice on family events is available on the main web site - although some has not yet been updated to include the latest online sources.

Herts Family History Society Meeting next Saturday

The next Hertfordshire Family History Society meeting will be on May 30th:

London in the 1880s

by Jef Page

Click here for meeting details

£50 Prize for the best essay on your First World War Hertfordshire Relative

Hertfordshire Family History Society Competition

HFHS

A kind donation by the late Sherry Martin has made it possible to fund a biennial competition open to members of the Hertfordshire Family History Society which is to write an article between 1,500 and 2,500 words long on a particular theme. There will be a £50 prize and a certificate for the winner which will be announced at the A.G.M. in 2015. The winning article will also be published in the next available Hertfordshire People.

If you are not yet a member of the Herts Family History Society you will need to join (Why not get someone to give you a subscription for Christmas) and get your piece in before the end of February.

Hertfordshire People No 129 now out

The picture shows "Minnie"

The latest issue of Hertfordshire People is now out - and members of the Herts Family History Society can now get it by email. It contains the usual collection of news, stories, etc., and as usual I will briefly report on the items that interest me - in the hope that it might tempt non-members to join and receive a copy themselves.

Needless to say First World War research and activities are mentioned. Over the years the Society has produced many booklets of Memorial Inscriptions and they plan to produce one of the War Memorials so far recorded, including details from family graves and memorials which could easily be overlooked. There is also an article on the exhibition to be held in Bushey in August (Details at www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk) which you might like to note for your diary if you are in Hertfordshire this summer. I also note that that the next issue will give details of a competition to write about what your relative during the War. There is also a list of relevant events being organised at HALS.

A useful trip to St Albans

St Albans

Last Saturday I went to St Albans to visit some of the special events for residents which, I now learn are held every year on the final weekend in January, before going to the monthly meeting of the Herts Family History Society.

My first stop was to the North Transept of the Abbey where there was an exhibition of pictures of St Albans about 100 years ago put on by the SAHAAS. It included copies of many pictures by the local artist Holmes Winter, and I plan to do a page on his work later in the year. During the visit I had a talk with a number of members and Jon told me they have now located a map confirming the location of the Chalk Hill and Gorhambury Rifle Ranges.

I then went for a quick cup of hot chocolate in the Abbey Refectory (well worth a stop-over if you are visiting the Abbey).

As you enter the Refectory a doorway takes you upstairs to the Abbey Library where there was an exhibition celebrating the life of Matthew Paris. Matthew was a Benedictine monk who lived in St Albans Abbey - and was a very significant historian, although as he died in 1259 his works have little immediate relevance to most people researching their family history.

I then detoured to a bookshop in St Peters Street (with a small cafe!) where I spent a Christmas book token on a copy of Hertford - A landscape history. It looks like an important document for understanding the development of the county over the centuries - but is more for the local historian than than genealogist. It has been added to my "To review" list

Marlborough Street Methodist Church was next on my list. It was built in 1898 - almost certainly using Jacob Reynolds bricks from Bernards Heath. It has cast iron pillars supporting the gallery and a magnificent organ which was being played while  I was there. I took a number of pictures and have created a page for them and added a short historical text from their exhibition.

I then traveled to Woolmer Green to hear Jon Mein give a talk on the work being done by the First World War Team of the SAHAAS in recording the Military Tribunals during the First World War. Unfortunately the original Tribunal Record have not survived - but those of Middlesex have - showing how much information has been lost. He mentioned Arthur Tyler, who had been a milkman working for my great grandfather at the Heath  Farm Dairy, and who gave his life fighting.