European & Surnames Courses at Pharos for 2024

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Julie Goucher

Copyright Pharos Tutors 2023, used with permission.

I have finally managed to get the dates for the Pharos courses uploaded to this site.

The Introduction to One-Name Studies course (901) will run twice during 2024 and booking for both courses is available by clicking HERE.

  • 23 January 2024
  • 9 July 2024

The Practicalities of a One-Name Studies course (903) will run twice during 2024 and booking for both courses is available by clicking HERE.

This course began to be taught in 2020. It sits between the existing courses, Introduction (901) course and the Advanced (902) course, and builds upon the learning and practice of the Introduction course.

  • 5 March 2024
  • 10 September 2024

Advanced One-Name Studies  course (902) which runs typically once a year.  There are two options available for this course, either as an assessed student or not assessed.

  • awaiting date

The assessed element is the preparation of an essay and those students who successfully complete a 2 – 3,000 word written article about one-name studies will be awarded the Guild Certificate of Attainment. The best articles will be submitted for publication in the Journal of One Name Studies.

The Researching Ancestors in Continental Europe course (750) typically runs once a year.

  • 7 May 2024
Posted in Advanced One-Name Studies (Pharos Course 902), European Ancestors, Introduction to One-Name Studies (Pharos course 901), One-Name Studies | Leave a comment

Past and Future Meets

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Julie Goucher

© Julie Goucher, 2023 created with greenvelope.com

At the end of August my niece gave birth to a little girl.

Now almost four months old, and she will be blissful unaware of the whole Christmas hype. Her Mum shares regular photos with us.  She is changing every day, as she grows and develops. Weather allowing, we should see her before Christmas.

In addition to her Christmas gift, her Mum will receive something special from me, as past and future meet.

 

© Julie Goucher, 2023

In early 1970, my maternal great Grandmother gave my Mum a shawl for my Christening. After the event, Mum kept it and eventually gave it to me. Subsequently I kept it, initially for any children that I might have, and then as something treasured. It is now time for it to move on, to a future generation, as past meets with the future.

One of my precious memories is cuddles with my great grandmother, she died in 1973, in her early nineties, I was about three and a half.  

#happymemories

Posted in Miscellaneous | Leave a comment

Desk Ramblings (31)

Posted on December 1, 2023 by Julie Goucher

Created by Julie Goucher, July 2019

Hello everyone, Happy December!

I have had a reasonably long break from posting, that said, I note that I have had a surge in followers, so if you are new here, thanks for joining me!

Why the break? Well this year has been quite busy – I have taught the usual amount of courses for Pharos, delivered 112 talks to various international audiences. All of these were virtual which is my preference these days. I have created a few new talks, retired a few talks and had a bit of a change on this site in how they appear.

The list of talks was becoming wieldy, I therefore updated the list of the talks on this site, with a full synopsis available as a downloaded file. Each talk is updated before it is given. I firmly believe that if I am asked to give a talk then that talk should be up to date with a fresh look, and a syllabus or handout is available for all talks. If genealogists attend a talk then they should get something from that talk, because time is something that each of us probably finds in short supply.

We managed a few breaks away this year, charging the batteries is important, as they say, a change is as good as a rest. One of those breaks away coincided with the #AllAboutThatPlace event and I was fortunate that while I listened to those talks, all freely given by genealogists and historians, my spouse was wandering about a river in the north east of England with a fishing rod – all the fish caught were returned to the river to live another day.

For reasons I cannot explain I thoroughly enjoyed the #AllAboutThatPlace event, more so than any other event in recent years. There were more than 130 short talks, all created in celebration of the Society of One-Place Studies 10th birthday, I was a founder member and still support the society, contributing three talks which can be viewed here (along with the handout). The associated Facebook Group that was set up for the event, generated lots of interesting discussion, debating and knowledge sharing. The group continues to receive posts and I recommend it.

Two other things I have been working on is my poor filing system, both paper and digital formats, and my pile of completed notebooks for the current year. My current notebook I began on 14 November is from my stash and I might have enough to last the rest of the year – more on both of those topics in the next day or so.

 

Posted in Desk Ramblings! | 1 Comment

Remembering William James West (1898-1918)

Posted on November 11, 2023 by Julie Goucher

© Julie Goucher, 2023

Today is 11 November 2023, and a day when we acknowledge the sacrifice that a generation of men made, for the benefit of all. There was a great many families, mine included that bore the effects of that sacrifice. The tragedy is that War continues in the world, despite the millions of lives lost.

This post is in Remembrance of

William James West, 1898-1918

William James West was born in Aldershot Hampshire in 1898, the son of William Arthur West, a military man and, Emma Jane Ellis (Harris).

I had always known that my Grandfather’s first cousin had died in the First World War, and then I was presented with a photograph of William, such a handsome young man! The moment I saw that photograph I wanted to know all I could about William.

William James West 1898-1918. From the personal collection of Julie Goucher.

Private William James West served with the 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment. He is Commemorated at: Ligny-Sur-Canche British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. He died of wounds on 5th September 1918, aged just 20 years.

He is commemorated on the War Memorial at Stony Stratford Buckinghamshire, where his parents, William Arthur and Emma Jane West lived & ran their newsagents business at 63 High Street, established when William Arthur left the Army.

I submitted the details for William James to the First World War Digital Archive whilst material could be submitted. As I wanted to further preserve the details of William.

William James had two army numbers and was Private T4/212898 William James West, Army Service Corps, and later was 51275, 1st Bn. Cheshire Regiment. His T4 Army Service Corps prefix indicates he once served in transport.

As I said I submitted his details to the Digital Archive and they further spotted a detail I had not known about the photograph, as he is rather oddly, pictured above wearing a ‘lamb and flag’ cap badge, relevant to neither unit he was known to have served in, (unless he served for a time in the small Army Service Corps Armoured Car Companies, recruited from transport personnel. Their ‘Light Armoured Motor Batteries’, operative in Palestine, wore a similar badge unofficially).

Bombing during the Second World War destroyed some of the records from the First World War, though, I was lucky. William James’s record survived and is a total of 24 pages detailing when he enlisted, his service and which regiment he was attached to and then, finally his gun shot wound to the chest leading to his death in 1918, just months before the war ended.

I have a copy of his Service Record and have just noticed a mention of the Devonshire Regiment that I had been unaware of. His medal card, confirms what medals his family were entitled to claim after his death and this corresponds with the Service Record.

May he rest in peace and know that even though he paid the ultimate sacrifice he is still firmly in the heart of his family.

Posted in Genealogy, Harris, West | 1 Comment

Getting Ready for #AllAboutThatPlace

Posted on September 16, 2023 by Julie Goucher

As a founding member of the Society of One-Place Studies I am delighted to be supporting and taking part in All About That Place, a collective and unique challenge event. Don’t forget to join the Society of One-Place Studies, £10 for a year which represents excellent value.

The image here provides a glimpse into my talks.

Courtesy of Julie Goucher, 2023

The event begins on 22 September and runs until 1st October. You are able to enjoy the evetn free of charge. Sign up to the Facebook group, it is a great informative group with a mixture of genealogists – some just starting their one place study, others have been working on theirs for years, others are, like me, viewing material and planning on taking their material and making it available to others.

In the Facebook group there is a copy of the Event calendar and speaker bios, plenty of discussion and the sharing of hints and tips.

Posted in #AllAboutThatPlace Event, One-Place Studies | Leave a comment

Beyond the Death Certificate – SOG Talk 23 September 2023

Posted on September 14, 2023 by Julie Goucher

Looking forward to talking about Beyond the Death Certificate – 23 Sept 2023, 2pm BST

In this session, a 1 hour talk, hosted by the Society of Genealogists, we focus on several key elements relating to death certificates and you will likely not look at a death certificate in the same way again!

Posted in Genealogy, Presentations | Leave a comment

All About That Place

Posted on September 11, 2023 by Julie Goucher

As a founding member of the Society of One-Place Studies I am delighted to be supporting and taking part in All About That Place, a collective and unique challenge event. Don’t forget to join the Society of One-Place Studies, £10 for a year which represents excellent value.

 

The schedule and bios of the speakers has just been released, and is available for download HERE. There are 130 bitesize talks from 93 speakers. The event starts on 22 September until 1 October 2023.

To take part join the active Facebook group and share the sessions you have enjoyed, how you have been inspired. Don’t forget to use the tag #AllAboutThatPlace and #OnePlaceStudy.

Posted in #AllAboutThatPlace Event, One-Place Studies | Leave a comment

What’s in a Name?…..

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Julie Goucher

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet said Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet

Yesterday morning there was a small segment on Sky News (UK) about those in the USA naming their children after UK place names; in this instance, Aberdeen, Cardiff and Bradford.

Surnames frequently occur as place names and it is one of those that debates, which came first, did the place, through common usage adopt the surname of a key family, or did families adopt the name of the community they lived in. It is a chicken and the egg debate and either has merit.

In a similar fashion, some children bear the name of their mother’s family, or another family surname, as either a given name, a middle name and even a hyphenated surname.

So why might people use Bradford as a given name for a baby? Perhaps the family were from that region, or maybe the place name has a sentimental link to the parents and as such they give their baby the place name.

Logo from FreeBMD

I did a quick search of FreeBMD which is a free website where volunteers transcribe the indexes of the Births, Deaths and Marriages of England and Wales. Statutory registration began in September 1837 and whilst the site does not contain material for the current year, it is a key resource for genealogists.

Below is the results for England and Wales:

Bradford is recorded as being a given name in more than 150 babies from 1837 until 1992.

Cardiff has four instances, although these seem to be the same individual – all occur in 1993.

Aberdeen has two such instances, one from 1893 and the other in 1900.

Logo from Scotlands People

Turning to records from across the Scottish Border, I did a search of Scotlands People and that revealed a bumper crop of results. Let me quantify the parameters of material on the Scotlands People website, valuation rolls and legal records. Also, is Occupation, poor relief and migration and prison records.

Bradford revealed more than 6,000 instances across the various record sets

Cardiff revealed more than 4,000 instances, but most of these related to Coat of Arms. There is just four births.

Aberdeen revealed just over 5,000 instances.

One other significant factor is that the Scottish People site also includes within the results where the name is used as a middle name.

Looking at data collection from FreeBMD features in the Practicalities of a One-Name Study course. Analysis of data is explored in the Introduction to One-Name Studies course.

Posted in One-Name Studies | 2 Comments

Spotlight on Surnames…..

Posted on July 22, 2023 by Julie Goucher

Over the last 18 months the Guild have hosted a number of spotlight on…..segments about specific studies – Aitchison, Braund, Featherstone, Howes and Liddiard. 

Visit the Guild of One-Name Studies website and search for the relevant surname. From there you can visit their individual websites and their Study Profile Page. You can watch these surname webinars HERE. If you are interested in having your study under the spotlight, please leave a comment below.

This Image created by Julie Goucher

I have also shared this post on the newsfeed of the Guild of One-Name Studies.

Posted in One-Name Studies, Surnames | Leave a comment

Researching Italian Ancestors – SOG talk 15 July 2023

Posted on July 11, 2023 by Julie Goucher

Looking forward to talking about researching Italian Ancestors – 15 July 2023, 2pm BST

In this session, a 1 hour talk, hosted by the Society of Genealogists, we look at the history of Italy and explore the vital resources to track down our Italian Ancestors.

To Book: ow.ly/aHPg50P7G9Y

#ItalianFamilyHistory #ItalianRoots

Posted in European Ancestors, Italy | Leave a comment