Newsletter – 25th
May 2023
My ancestor was in the militia
Are you researching with one hand tied behind
your back?
It helps if you know what you’re looking at
More details on the forthcoming bigamy symposium
Could this be the last chance to save on WDYTYA
subscriptions? EXCLUSIVE OFFER
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My ancestor was in the militia
If
you were male, born before World War 2, and lived in the UK, the chances are
that you were required to do National Service, serving in the military for 2
years (or 18 months for those called up between January 1949 and September
1950), and remaining on the reserve list for a number of
years afterwards. There were some exemptions – primarily for those working in coal
mining, farming, or the merchant navy – but most did their stint.
Similarly many of our male ancestors would have served
in the militia in the second half of the 18th century, or the first
half of the 19th century: English and Welsh regiments were established
by the Militia Act 1757, Scottish and Irish regiments were formed later.
Organised by county and chosen by ballot, service was compulsory – though from
the 1790s you could get off the hook by persuading another man to take your
place, perhaps by offering them some financial inducement.
Members
of the militia were chosen from able-bodied men between 18 and 45 (18 and 50 between
1757-62), and rather like the modern Territorial Army (now the Army Reserve)
they would train for a number of days annually, but would
usually only be called up in time of war. During the Napoleonic Wars the period
of service was increased from 3 years to 5 years.
Note:
men with children might be exempt – before 1802 this typically only applied to
men with 3 or 4 children under 10, but from 1802 men with any children under 14
were exempt. Many officials were exempt, as were clergymen, teachers, doctors, apprentices,
and those who had previously served in the militia. There was also a minimum
height requirement, usually 5ft 4in – this might seem like a low bar, but the
average height of adult males in those days was about 5ft 7in so there could
have been around 10% or more who were too short.
Usually militia regiments served on the Home Front, though
not in the same county from which the men were drawn. For example, when my
ancestor Edward Holmes married a local girl in Plymouth, Devon in 1794 he was (according
to the marriage register entry) serving with the Staffordshire militia, so
would have been over 200 miles, or two weeks’ march, from home.
Tip:
it’s worth considering whether some of your male ancestors might have relocated
as a consequence of serving in the militia.
Most
records of the militia are held at the National Archives in Kew, but there are
some at local records offices. Of particular interest are the annual militia
ballot lists, which are akin to local censuses. According to Militia Lists and Musters 1757-1876 (sadly
out of print) particularly good collections survive for Cumberland, Dorset, Hertfordshire,
Kent, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Bristol.
Are you researching with one hand tied behind your back?
I
mentioned in the previous article that my great-great-great-great grandfather
Edward Holmes married in Stoke Damerel, Plymouth,
Devon in 1794 and is recorded in the marriage register as being in the Staffordshire
Militia.
Naturally
the first place I looked for his baptism was Staffordshire – Findmypast have exclusive rights to the
parish registers at Staffordshire Archives. He died a few months before the
1841 Census, but if the age of 78 given in the burial register and on his death certificate are correct he must have been born around
1762-63. However that would make him 31 when he
married in 1794, which is on the high side for a first marriage, so I wasn’t
surprised that the only baptisms I could find were in the early 1770s. Perhaps
he was 68, not 78? Even today people struggle with subtraction.
When
there is a choice of baptisms and little to choose between them
I generally take a look to see what others have done, just in case they’ve spotted
some clues that I’ve missed. But in this case the only distant cousins who had attached
a baptism to Edward had
chosen a 1771 baptism in Halifax, Yorkshire – and I wondered why those 18
researchers had plumped for this baptism ahead of the Staffordshire entries. Did
they know something that I didn’t?
I
didn’t look at every tree, but what I did notice was that although they all
recorded Edward’s marriage in 1794, none of them provided any supporting sources.
I soon realised why – although Ancestry have a large collection
of Devon parish records, they don’t have images of the parish registers, and
the collection doesn’t include every parish. In particular,
marriages from St Andrew, Plymouth seem to be missing altogether, at
least for the relevant period.
Note:
during my investigations I stumbled across an index entry for Edward Stanley
Gibbons – a name that might not mean much to you, but as a young stamp collector
the name ‘Stanley Gibbons’ (he dropped the ‘Edward’) was one to conjure with. Gibbons
was baptised at St Andrew, Plymouth in 1841, but the transcript
gives only the year, not the date.
I
suspect that my cousins found the marriage record at the free FamilySearch site,
where there is not only a transcript but an image:
© Image copyright Plymouth Archives; used by kind permission of
Findmypast
However,
whilst the image does show the marriage of Edwd Holms
to Charlotte Masters it’s not a page from the marriage
register page – remember that in 1754 pre-printed marriage registers were brought
into use:
© Image copyright Plymouth
Archives; used by kind permission of Findmypast
The
actual marriage register entry provides the key information that Edward Holms was
serving in the Stafford Militia – in fact, if you look through the register you’ll see that many of the grooms who married at St
Andrew, Plymouth were soldiers or sailors.
As
it happens, the Edward Holmes who was born in Halifax, Yorkshire was also in
the army, and there are records relating to his discharge and pension on Findmypast
and Ancestry which make it clear that he was a weaver by trade, who was discharged
from the 2nd Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1808 after 18 years service on the grounds of ill-health (a rupture), and
awarded a pension of 1s a day. Is it credible that the same man would be described
in baptism register entries in 1804, 1808, and 1810 as a bricklayer?
To
me this is a clear case of researching “with one hand tied behind one’s back” –
if you only have access to records at one of the major subscription
sites you’re bound to make mistakes from time to time.
Tip:
if you can’t afford two annual subscriptions check what’s available at your
local library. You might also be able to get free access at a nearby record
office, LDS Family History Centre, or through your local family history
society. If none of those options work for you, consider buying shorter
subscriptions, or alternating your annual subscriptions.
It helps if you know what you’re looking at
In the previous
article I showed extracts from two parish registers, both from the same parish
and both recording the same event – though with different levels of detail. It’s
not unusual to find alphabetical indexes to marriages, baptisms, or burials at
the front or back of a parish register but in this case the entries are in the
same chronological order as in the register.
The
low detail entries are recorded in the composite register that was already in
use when Lord Hardwicke’s marriage law came into force in 1754. At the front of
the register I found a note, probably dating from the
18th century, which mentioned the duplicate entries, and referred to
a more detailed note in the pages relating to 1754.
©
Image copyright Plymouth Archives; used by kind permission of Findmypast
On
the left you can see that note – clearly the vicar at the time decided that it
was worthwhile continuing to keep a record of marriages in the same register as
baptisms and burials, though precisely what his reasoning was is difficult to
guess 269 years later!
The
new Act made a big change to the way that entries were recorded that might not
be immediately obvious, even to experienced researchers (as almost all readers
of this newsletter are). Because the
participants in the marriage ceremony – the bride, the groom, the witnesses,
and the clergyman – all had to sign the register, it meant that it couldn’t be locked
away in the parish chest and only brought out when the incumbent decided to
write up all the baptisms, burials, and marriages that had taken place since
the previous occasion (which could have been weeks or months earlier). Vicars would
have relied on the sexton’s notebook, on notes they had taken themselves, or
sometimes on their memories (which given the number of gaps and errors may not
have been as reliable as they would have wished).
Parish
chests were required to have three locks, with one key held by the clergymen
and the other two by a church warden and another member of the community. You
can see examples of parish chests here
and here – the chest
in the first photo dates from the 1400s, and had to be modified in the 16th
century when the requirement for three locks was introduced.
It
may be that the vicar of St Andrew, Plymouth was concerned that the new
marriage register might be lost or damaged whilst in use, or perhaps he just liked
the idea of having all the entries in a single register. Whatever his
reasoning, the practice wasn’t a common one.
It’s
understandable that family historians who are less experienced (or, at least,
less experienced in researching English parish records) might not have realised
that there was another more detailed entry in a separate register. However the key lesson for all of us is the importance of
knowing what we are looking at!
Guest article: An introduction to Geneanet
It’s impossible for me to research every
genealogy site in the depth that LostCousins members deserve, so I’m delighted
that Derek has offered to tell you about Geneanet….
Peter
has asked that I share my experiences of Geneanet, an
alternative to Ancestry, but in fact Geneanet and
Ancestry are now in collaboration with each other and share both information
and family trees (however, Geneanet has assured its
members that it will exist as a separate site within the Ancestry family). It
is available in English, has 5 million members, and has 8 billion individuals
in family trees. The free version is simple to use but the paid version (Premium),
gives you more in-depth searches and feedback, and at a cost of £11 for 3 months
will not break the bank!
The
basic premise of Geneanet is collaboration; you
upload your tree with pictures, archive records, and other information you
think relevant; this data is then freely available for others to access. In
addition to the members’ interests there are the usual government census
returns and marriage certificates, plus, the standard records one would expect
from a genealogical site. Members not only submit records but can be involved
in other projects such as photographs of cemeteries (currently 100 countries)
and war memorials, both European, and worldwide. In addition
Geneanet has a DNA database that is free to upload
and free to access and link to; within the DNA you can search on the usual such
as segments, accuracy degree of relationship, etc.
My
experience was of an American service man who married a French lady with Jewish
ancestry. She thought her father was linked to Romania and Hungary and with that;
the WW2 associated problems of her ancestry; whilst her mother’s side was
linked to different villages within France. I had tracked down the UK side of
her husband’s tree but all I had for her was a name of her mother and place of
birth, (but no date of birth), and a possible father with roots in Romania.
The
search on Geneanet showed her grandparents on both
sides with those of her father originating in Ploesi,
Romania and the mother’s in villages within France. I
then used this information to search further on Geneanet
and Ancestry. I am not a Premium member but initially working with Geneanet and then Ancestry I have downloaded a number of certificates and further ancestors. She now
remembers the names of the family members found in France are part of her
family tree, and with that it demonstrates we are on the correct lines. So far we are back to the late 1700’s and have found further
family in Romania, and also in the USA and Sweden.
With
regards to the DNA upload the most I have is up to a 20cm link to most of the
DNA uploads as they are all remote and in Europe. However
I have found a strong link to a family in NZ who are on no genealogical site
other than Geneanet and I look forward to researching
it more closely.
Without
Geneanet I don’t think I would have achieved the
level of detail found, so I would recommend it for those with European links. However its main attraction is that a good proportion of the
site is free and if needed £4 per month or so is not bad.
More details on the forthcoming bigamy symposium
In
the last issue I mentioned
the event taking place at Macquarie University in Australia, in July. I’ve now
received some more information on the individual sessions, and you can view it here.
For
those of us in the UK most of the sessions are in the middle of the night. However if the subject matter is of interest I recommend
registering anyway, as the talks are likely to be recorded and made available afterwards
(but, as with so many other online events, access might well be restricted to attendees).
You only die twice
A
letter in the latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine really
struck home – and not just because it was written by a LostCousins member.
I
hadn’t previously come across the saying that we all die twice, once when we
stop living, and again the last time that someone remembers us – but it certainly
makes me feel proud of the way that we family historians bring our ancestors
back to life by researching them.
It
makes it even more important that our research lives on, whether because we
hand it over to a member of the younger generation who is keen to continue it, or
– more likely – because we share our discoveries with our many ‘lost cousins’.
Could this be the last chance to save on WDYTYA
subscriptions? EXCLUSIVE OFFER
The
exclusive offer I’ve arranged for LostCousins members is still running but it
can’t last for ever.
I've
been a reader of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine ever since issue 1,
and I can tell you from personal experience that every issue is packed with advice
on how to research your family tree, including how to track down online records,
how to get more from DNA tests, and the ever-popular readers' stories. Naturally
you also get to look behind-the-scenes of the popular Who Do You Think You
Are? TV series.
There's
an extra special introductory offer for members in the UK, but there are also offers
for overseas readers, each of which offers a substantial saving on the cover
price:
UK - try 6 issues for just
£9.99 - saving 68%
Europe - 13 issues (1 year)
for €65 - saving 33%
Australia
& New Zealand
- 13 issues (1 year) for AU $99 - saving 38%
US
& Canada
– 13 issues for US $69.99 – saving 59%
Rest
of the world
- 13 issues (1 year) for US $69.99 – saving 41%
To
take advantage of any of these deals (and to support LostCousins) please follow
this link.
I’ve
been ordering goods from Amazon for the past 20 years and for the most part the
service has been amazing. But last week they couldn’t deliver the screwdriver
set I ordered because they couldn’t find my house – that’s right, the one they’ve
been delivering to for two decades. Ironically this happened on the same day
the NASA awarded a $3.4 billion contract to Blue Origin, the space company owned
by Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon. Let’s hope that
the navigation software that takes astronauts to the moon is more reliable than
the software that Amazon delivery drivers use!
Note:
the same thing happened the next day – another parcel failed to turn up. Fortunately both eventually arrived, 2 or 3 days late, and just before my patience ran out!
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 2023 Peter Calver
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