Newsletter – 22nd
June 2024
Suffolk Archives closing for several months BREAKING NEWS
Last chance to save
30% at Findmypast ENDS SUNDAY
Support LostCousins
and get a bonus!
Is it really Samuel
Johnson’s desk?
The LostCousins
newsletter is usually published 2 or 3 times a month. To access the previous issue
(dated 17th June) click here; to find earlier articles use the customised Google search between
this paragraph and the next (it searches ALL of the newsletters since February
2009, so you don't need to keep copies):
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Suffolk Archives closing for several months BREAKING
NEWS
I’ve
written
in the recent past about the plans to centralise Suffolk Archives at The Hold
in Ipswich – the decision to close the Bury Record Office follows the proposal a
few years ago to close the Lowestoft site. It has now been confirmed that these
branches will close at the end of August.
Unfortunately the consolidation of the records at Ipswich is
going to require the closure of The Hold for three months from the beginning of
October. Not only will there be no access to original documents, I discovered today that there will be no access to
microfilmed records either!
The
good news, such as it is, is that volunteers from Suffolk Family History
Society have transcribed many of the parish register entries. Over 1.5 million
baptisms and marriages from 1754 onwards (plus 1.3m Suffolk entries from the National
Burial Index) can be found at Findmypast. There are many more which are
available on CD ROM (or as digital downloads) from the Suffolk FHS.
Note:
in the longer-term access to Suffolk parish registers is going to improve
dramatically because Ancestry are in the process of digitizing
the registers. The latest estimate is that the registers will be online in
early 2025 – but what a shame that the closure of The Hold and the release of
the digitized images couldn’t have been better co-ordinated!
Last chance to save 30% at Findmypast ENDS SUNDAY
Because
searching is always free at Findmypast there’s a lot you can achieve without a
subscription. Nevertheless, no serious researcher can manage for long without
access to the records themselves, and whilst family history is one of the
cheaper hobbies, it can still be difficult to find the money for a 12 month subscription, even though annual subscriptions
invariably provide a significant cost saving compared to shorter subscriptions.
But
until 11.59pm (London time) on Sunday 23rd June Findmypast are
offering a massive 30% discount on 3 month and 12 month
PREMIUM subscriptions at all of their sites. In other words, this weekend you
can get Findmypast’s top subscription, which includes ALL of
the billions of records in their collection, PLUS 80 million pages from
historical newspapers and magazines, PLUS modern electoral registers for the
whole of the UK, for little more than the price of a Plus subscription – which
doesn’t include records from outside the British Isles, nor newspapers, nor the
1921 England & Wales census.
For
example, at the UK site you’ll pay just under £140, a massive saving of £60. With
the discount it works out at LESS than you could have paid for Findmypast’s top
subscription 15 years ago – even though you’re getting billions more records
and getting on for a billion newspaper articles. It works out at 40p a day,
less than half the price of a Second Class stamp.
Of
course, the 30% discount only applies to the first payment so if you can
possibly manage it, purchase a 12 month subscription
and lock in your saving for a whole year. And as a 12 month
subscriber you’ll also benefit from a 15% Loyalty Discount should you opt to
renew your subscription, as many of you undoubtedly will.
The
offer is open to both new Findmypast subscribers and former subscribers,
and ends just before midnight (London time) next Sunday. If you have any
questions for me, ask them now – don’t leave it to the last minute as I like to
take Sunday evenings off.
Existing
Premium subscribers can’t take advantage of this offer – but hopefully you
benefited from a special offer when you bought your first subscription. And remember,
if you’re an annual subscriber, when your subscription comes up for renewal you’ll qualify for Findmypast’s Loyalty Discount,
currently 15%. If you have a lesser subscription you might
find that you can upgrade at a favourable rate – click the link below and see
what happens.
Tip:
don’t rush off to Findmypast just yet, because in the next article I provide
the link you will need and explain how you can support LostCousins AND get a
bonus for yourself when you purchase a new 12 month
Findmypast under the offer. You could save yourself over £70 in total!
Support LostCousins and get a bonus!
Although
the Findmypast offer isn’t exclusive to readers of this newsletter, you’ll only
have a chance of supporting LostCousins if you use the appropriate link at the
end of this article – but please don’t stop reading as the next bit is
important!
It’s
one thing to click the link – but sadly that doesn’t guarantee that your
purchase will be tracked as coming from LostCousins. For a start, if you’re
asked about cookies when you get to the Findmypast site, please choose That’s
fine (you can always change the settings after you’ve made your purchase).
IMPORTANT:
if you have installed any browser extensions with names that include the words
'ad' and/or 'block' this is a danger sign! Bear in mind that if you allow your
children or grandchildren to ‘help’ you with your computer they may well have
installed something you don’t know about. And please don’t use a work computer
or a device connected to your employer’s network as this is very unlikely to
work.
Tracking
is least likely to be blocked by default if you use Chrome or Edge as your
browser. Browsers such as Firefox and Brave are very likely to block tracking,
and this also seems to be true of Safari (though I can’t check it out myself as
the Windows version is no longer updated). Chrome is free to download and works
on just about any device (one reason I use it), so this might be a good time to
download it and navigate to this newsletter from within Chrome – please don’t
click the link in my email as that will take you to your usual browser, which
is what you’re trying to avoid!
Tip:
if you are not sure which browser you are currently
using click the three dots at the top right and choose ‘Help’ from the browser
menu: if one of the options that is displayed is ‘About Google Chrome’ then you
know you’re in Chrome.
I
also recommend that, if you possibly can, you use a computer rather than a
smartphone or tablet. But whatever device you choose, please stick to it, as
clicking my link on one device and then making your purchase on another definitely won't work.
In
Chrome you'll find the 'Do not track' switch by going to Settings, then Privacy
and security, then Cookies and other site data – the default setting
is OFF, as shown BELOW, and this is exactly what you want:
The
switch should be to the LEFT and appear grey. If the switch is to the right
(and blue) then please move it to the left.
In
Edge you'll find a similar switch in Settings under Privacy, search
and services and it works in the same way. If it is set to the right, move
it to the left. I also recommend temporarily turning off Tracking Prevention.
Once
you are satisfied that your purchase is going to be tracked, click the relevant
link and make your purchase, noting the EXACT time of the transaction (to the
minute!). If you change your mind about which site you want to subscribe to,
please go back to the newsletter and click the link for the site you’ve chosen.
Provided
that we receive commission on your purchase of a NEW 12 month Findmypast
subscription under the offer above you’ll receive a free LostCousins
subscription worth up to £12.50 (if we get commission on an upgrade you’ll get
a pro rata bonus) .
To claim your bonus forward the email receipt you
receive from Findmypast, ensuring that the time and date of your purchase is
shown (include the time zone if you are not in the UK). Alternatively send me
an email stating the precise time and date of your purchase (to the minute),
and the amount paid. As usual, my email address was in the email you received
telling you about this newsletter.
IF
IN DOUBT PLEASE CHECK WITH ME BEFORE MAKING YOUR PURCHASE - AFTERWARDS
WILL BE TOO LATE!
Findmypast.co.uk - Save
30% on 3 and 12 month Premium subscriptions
Findmypast.com.au - Save
30% on 3 and 12 month Premium subscriptions
Findmypast.com - Save
30% on 3 and 12 month Premium subscriptions
Findmypast.ie - Save 30% on 3 and
12 month Premium subscriptions
All
of the offers end at 11.59pm London time on Sunday 23rd
June. So if you are in Australia, you could get up
early on Monday 24th – whereas in California the offer will end at
4pm on Sunday.
Note:
Findmypast offers which end at the weekend sometimes extend into Monday
morning, but don’t bank on this!
The
term ‘irregular marriage’ is one that Professor Rebecca Probert, the leading
expert on the history of marriage law in England & Wales, studiously avoids
using in Marriage
Law for Genealogists – it’s probably the best £10 purchase you’ll ever
make (with the possible exception of a LostCousins subscription). In the
introduction she writes: “The term irregular is [..] problematic, as
different meanings have been ascribed to it by different historians; it does
not, however, have any technical legal meaning.”
In
the last issue I showed you the 1933 marriage register entries for Captain
George Garside and Lady Mary Onslow – you can see them again here.
If you recall, the first marriage register entry was cancelled because the
bride had not only signed using her married surname, she had
omitted some of her middle names – however, I speculated that the marriage
would have been legal however she had signed her name, and I was able to
confirm this with Professor Probert.
But
how about this marriage – would you consider it to be legal?
It
seems that neither the bride nor the groom signed the register because they had
already left the church! I double-checked by looking the church copy of the
marriage register, which can be found here
at Ancestry – but it’s exactly the same.
Once
again I consulted the oracle: Professor Probert’s
verdict was that the failure to sign the register did NOT affect the validity
of the marriage. She explained that “the register is evidence that a wedding
took place, not a constitutive element of a valid marriage. If validity was called
into question at any point it would be necessary to
show that there had been a ceremony, but I think that could be inferred from
the register, else the clerk would have noted that they left before the
ceremony.”
This
marriage took place at the Collegiate Church of Manchester, an enormous parish
which included almost all of the modern city. In 1821
alone there were nearly 2000 marriages, and couples were often married in batches
of 20 or more Indeed, on 5th May 1844 there were 33 couples married,
and as Willliam Nicholl and Sophia Charlesworth are the last couple in the register
it perhaps not surprising that they weren’t prepared to wait around to sign the
register (which can take long enough when there’s only one couple!).
Is it really Samuel Johnson’s desk?
Dr
Samuel Johnson is best known for compiling his dictionary, first published in
1755 – at the time it was the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language,
with around 42,000 words. He wrote the dictionary at his house in London’s
Gough Square, now a museum, but is the antique writing desk that the museum is
putting on display really Dr Johnson’s desk?
According
to this BBC article
the provenance of the desk is dependent on whether two elderly and impoverished
Victorian sisters were telling the truth. They certainly had a connection to Dr
Johnson: one of the sisters, Elizabeth Ann Lowe, was his god-daughter, and in
his will he wrote
“I also give and bequeath to my god-children, the son and daughter of Mauritius
Low, painter, each of them, one hundred pounds of my stock in the three per
cent. consolidated annuities, to be applied and disposed of by and at the
discretion of my Executors, in the education or settlement in the world of them
my said legatees.”
Whilst
there is no specific mention of the desk in the will, he did refer to his ‘books,
plate, and household-furniture’, which his executors were to apply “after
paying my debts, to the use of Francis Barber, my man-servant”.
Mauritius
Lowe, the father of the two girls, is described by the Royal Academy as a “portrait-painter
and draughtsman” which suggests he would have needed a desk. Might Sir Joshua
Reynolds, the President of the Royal Academy, who was one of Johnson’s
executors, have arranged for him to have Dr Johnson’s desk? According to the
Dictionary of National Biography entry
for Mauritius Lowe, Dr Johnson had tried to find portrait work for the painter –
he was no doubt appalled by “the state of filth and misery to which Lowe and
his family were reduced”.
It
doesn’t matter to me whether it’s the right desk or not – and so long as it looks
as if it might be the right desk, I don’t suppose that the museum is too
worried, either. Indeed the controversy surrounding
the desk might encourage more people to visit.
Of
course, the reason I’ve included this article is not because I’m concerned
about Samuel Johnson’s desk, but because I can see parallel themes in family history.
For example, my father had a bound copy of the first volume of the Boy’s Own
Newspaper, which he told me had belonged to his maternal grandfather, John
Bright, when he was a boy. To me that seemed unlikely, since John Bright would
have been nearly 21 when the magazine launched in 1879 – but fortunately my
father left a note inside the book, no doubt written when he was much younger:
This is far less specific than the story he
told me when he was in his late 80s or early 90s, so much more likely to be
true – indeed, I have no reason to doubt it. Also in the book was a loose note
in my stepmother’s handwriting which read “Dad says Grandad John Bright had
these bound”, which
also seems plausible, though what matters most to me is that it was a gift to
my father from his grandfather, my great-grandfather.
It’s
all too easy to believe what we were told by our relatives, and if we pass on
that information uncritically to others we run the
risk of perpetuating, or even enhancing, a falsehood. Had I not already been researching
my family tree I wouldn’t have known how old my great-grandfather was in 1879 –
so I would simply have accepted what my father told me.
Did
you enter your ancestors soon after
joining? Many readers will have done – but did you stop after entering the
households of your direct ancestors? Again, many of you will have done, perhaps
because you planned to add the rest of your relatives later, or possibly you
thought you’d done all that was necessary.
Here’s the thing… ALL of
our living cousins are descended from collateral lines (or branches, as I call
them). So the relatives most likely to connect us to your
cousins are your direct ancestor’s siblings and cousins – and not just their 1st
cousins but their 2nd cousins and 3rd cousins too. You
could spread the net even wider if you wanted – the key thing to remember is
that ANY descendant of a cousin of yours is also a cousin of yours. That’s how
we come to have so many living cousins, as anyone who has taken the Ancestry
DNA test can confirm.
Tip: a good strategy is
to start with all the relatives you know about in 1841, then track them and
their descendants through the censuses until you get to 1881. You’ll find that
the inclusion of maiden names in the GRO marriage indexes helps, especially
when you’re tracking the daughters.
Half
a century ago I had a friend called Christopher who, like me, enjoyed coffee made
from freshly-ground beans. In those days I had a Cona coffee maker,
which, as many of you will know, looks like something out of a mad scientist’s laboratory.
Or if you don’t, think Wallace and Gromit. They’re not cheap now and they certainly weren’t
cheap then, but mine was a 21st birthday present from my wonderful Auntie Hala
(who, some, 30 years later was to become the main source of information about
my mother’s side of my tree).
Anyway,
back to the story: Chris didn’t have a Cona – he preferred
to use the ‘jug’ method. All you need is a jug and a spoon – you put the coffee
grounds in the jug, add water at the appropriate temperature, then gently
encourage the grounds to settle using the spoon.
I
gave up on my Cona when filter coffee-makers
came along (though I wish I still had it, as it was a beautiful device). Many
years later I switched to using a glass cafetière, and finally to a double-walled
stainless steel cafetière which keeps the coffee hot. There are fancy machines
available these days, but they’re expensive to buy and expensive to use – and as
I don’t drink espresso, I can’t see the point.
Then
suddenly this year I remembered Chris and his spoon, and wondered whether I
could usefully combine the two methods (jug and cafetière). And I could – I already
used a spoon to stir the coffee as I add the water, now it serves a double purpose.
Because the coffee grounds sink to the bottom a little quicker, they don’t clog
the filter, and the coffee tastes fresher (IMHO).
If
you’re trying to make your mind up about the Findmypast offer, here’s what a member
in Australia had to say:
“….wanted you to
know that I, like many others, had been telling myself for years that Find My
Past was unnecessary, partly because I have a subscription to Ancestry, and
partly because I have access for free from the local family history
centre. Besides that, I had never been
terribly successful in my searches when I actually used
it. All that changed earlier this year when I took out a trial 3 month subscription. I found out within the first search or
two how much there was on FMP that wasn't available on Ancestry, and I now have
a 12 month subscription. It has been enormously useful
since then.”
Also
see my guide
to getting the most out of Findmypast.
This is where any major updates and corrections will be
highlighted - if you think you've spotted an error first reload the newsletter
(press Ctrl-F5) then
check again before writing to me, in case someone else has beaten you to
it......
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2024 Peter Calver
Please do NOT copy or republish any part of this newsletter without permission - which is only granted in the most exceptional circumstances. However, you MAY link to this newsletter or any article in it without asking for permission - though why not invite other family historians to join LostCousins instead, since standard membership (which includes the newsletter), is FREE?
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