In an earlier post I talked about strategy, breaking it down into ten segments. Today I am going to write a about deciding on a project, essentially segment one.
What project?
There can be a whole host of reasons for embarking on such a project, perhaps even more than one reason. Perhaps your ancestors resided in a small geographical area and inter marrying across families was rife. Perhaps you have “misplaced” an ancestor – essentially they are not where you expect them to be. Or perhaps you can not find someone or you have found two someones with the same name, born around the same time, in the same general area. I feel your pain on all of those different reasons!
Puttenham Church – 2004 Julie Goucher
I am going to talk about my One-Place study, for the rural parish of Puttenham in Surrey and the neighbouring village of Wanborough, which is separated from Puttenham by way of the A31 road, or as the locals know it, the Hogs Back. My maternal Grandfather was born in Wanborough, his father, Charles Butcher from Wonersh, Surrey and his mother Annie Prudence Harris from Puttenham. In turn, Annie’s parents were from Elstead and Frensham, both Surrey villages and all of these within 19th Century England easy travelling distance and within easy reach of villages in the neighbouring counties of Sussex and Hampshire.
The photo here of Puttenham, shows the font where generations of my family were Christened from 1724.
As I worked back through the generations of ancestors, from Annie, I was repeatedly faced with marriages and liaisons of individuals with the same surnames, all in the same areas. I recall several weeks where all I did was extract material from the Puttenham parish records, which was frustrating. As a way of removing the frustration, I extracted the complete parish records and other information besides.
Looking back, I did not set out to undertake a One-Place Study, it simply seemed a logical progression to my research and as a way of avoiding me becoming totally frustrated. Now this was the days before the internet, so there was no Ancestry or Google. It was all undertaken by visiting repositories and seeing the original document or a microfilm of the original document.
In the modern age with the use of the internet, such a project is actually much easier to undertake, whether you are focusing on a place or a surnames and especially if undertaking a large study although the approach might in fact be very different now compared with the late 1980’s when my studies began. Don’t misunderstand, not all records are online, but a good many are, and in a variety of places.
As I worked back through the Puttenham records, I came across a Butcher family. I already knew that my own line hailed from Wonersh, but now contemplated if this family were connected to my own. That was probably the moment the Butcher One-Name Study was devised, although at the time I did not recognise it as that.
I will be back, looking at how we can achieve such a project.
I went across to Amazon to read the preview to discover that there were two books, written with the same title, by two different authors in two different years. Having read the preview of both books, I can see the tones are very different. As I could not decide which one I preferred, I ordered both.
By coincidence on the same day, a package from the customer service team that I called last week arrived. In it, a box of 16 citrus and honey pods. I tried one and have to say that I could be a convert when the mood takes me! Hubby also tried one and was equally impressed. I do not like sweet tea, and would have expected one with honey to be sweet, but the citrus and honey in that particular combination is spot on!
Weekend Cooking is hosted by 
Just recently I saw a comment from a fellow genealogist, although I cannot recall who, where they stated that they kept a writing portfolio.
It is a long while since I have taken part in a Sunday Salon. Social media has reduced the amount of time I read, as has writing and producing various presentations, syllabus and course material.
Over the course of the last few 
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles is not a book I have ever read, although I might have seen the film.
This is not a particularly academic book, but a plotted history of France. I love the way this author writes and it was in fact the next book I show here that prompted me to purchase this one.
That book is Sicily by the same author. Anyone who has been reading this site for a period of time will known that I am half Sicilian. Something that I am very proud of. Sicily has had a variety of occupations, Arabs, Romans, Greeks and French, to name a few.
Another book that I absolutely love is Seeking Sicily by John Keahey, this has a different approach to the Norwich book. It looks to contemporary Sicilians who have maintained the cultural changes of the Island and the legacy the earlier invaders left behind.
My final book on the Sicily theme is this one, Sicilian Genealogy and Heraldry. A must for anyone with Sicilian heritage written by Louis Mendola.
The Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Blaine Bettinger. I love this book. Not written in a patronising way, nor complicated manner. It is easy to see what you need to do in order to understand DNA results and what questions could, and perhaps should be asked.
This is the first in a US based genealogical series involving character, Tori O’Shea. Anyone who is partial to these types of books should consider this one and a few others. In fact I might even put a list of them together!
I can now share with you that I shall be presenting to the Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) webinar series in early December 2019.
Julie Goucher ~ Anglers Rest 