Julie Goucher ~ Anglers Rest

Created by Julie Goucher, 2023

Every member of the Guild of One-Name Studies with a registered study has a profile page on the main Guild website.

The advantage of this is that when someone searches for the surname, if it is registered, the profile page is displayed. Some members have added lots of information about their study, the origins of the surname, the geographical spread. There are links to the website of the study and DNA project, if applicable.

I have written profiles for both of my studies, Orlando and Butcher both profiles are different in terms of content and depth. The Butcher profile is more of a work in progress and I should get this just how I want it sometime later this month (hopefully!).

The profile page is the shop window to your study. It enables people researching your surname to find you and the more details you add to your profile the more chance you have of receiving contact from others. To assist members I have provided this paper which can be downloaded

The webmaster gave a presentation at the February 2017 Guild seminar, which as titled a walk run around the website and there was time given to explaining how easy it was to produce and use member’s benefit. Members will find the recording in the members area under seminars and those undertaking the Pharos Introduction to One-Name Studies will see the link in their course material.

Once you have searched for a surname, using the search box on the right hand side of the Guild website and profile appears (if the surname is registered), if you look towards the bottom the website also lists the instances where the surname appears in the Guild indexes. Try doing a search for Butcher and see how many instances there are.

Created by Julie Goucher, 2023

I love the image below of the Seven Steps of a One-Name Study. The reason I like it so much is that it shows the seven key principles of a study and today’s post is about analysing material and what we observe.

One of the key elements as you commence or think of commencing a study is to look at the numbers. How big is your study going to be?

Courtesy of the Guild of One-Name Studies –  one-name.org

It is not simply a case of how big the study is, but how big the study is going to be in a specific genealogical location. My Orlando study is small in the UK, but across the English Channel and head to Italy and the surname is common. The surname occurs in other areas of Europe also. Then look to other locations, South America, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

As we analyse the numbers I consider the driving factors of why the number might be higher in one country over another. I expected my Italian distribution map to show Orlando “everywhere” and I was not disappointed. I wrote about this earlier and you can read that post HERE the third map on the page shows the spread of Orlando’s.

When I compare the map to similar maps, such as for the United States, I can see the increase of the surname in certain states and then when I look at the history of Italy and in particular the south of the country I can see what perhaps drove the migration from those areas to the United States.

As part of analysing and observing, I could draw an initial conclusion that:

• Migration from a financially poor Italy, especially in the south was because there there was the hope of a better life in the USA.
• Some states, such as Alabama and Louisiana might have a surge in migrant populations because of the decrease in enslaved people and a deficit of people to do menial and hard labour work.
• Religion might also draw an increase in migration, so those from a devout Catholic country might choose to migrate to similar countries, Argentina and Brazil for example.
• The reduction in availability of migration to the United States might have driven an increase to other countries such as England and Australia.
• Sicily was famous for the incredibly hard work of sulphur mining, in fact in the 19th Century, 90% of the world’s sulphur mining came from Sicily. As the work decreased did this influence where the Sicilians migrated to?

All of these elements bring together our thought processes as we observe our findings and analyse them. If we give some context to the size of the study that builds a sounder approach to a study and adds a dimension to it.

For those who want to read more on the size of a study you could read this earlier post  here and I promise to write a post about some of my observations and see if my hypothesis holds water!

Created by Julie Goucher, 2023

I had to be a little creative with this one and instead of citations went with notations and citations.

Google gives this definition for notations:

“annotation, jotting, inscription, comment, footnote, entry, minute, record, item, memo, gloss, explanation, explication, elucidation, marginalia, exegesis, rare scholium“

We cite our sources so that we can:

• Document our research
• Show our research has credence. The research is sound and integrity as it’s base
• As a way of supporting our theory and assertions
• To show our sources are reliable
• To enable us and others to follow the research pathway

It is important to have consistent citations, but any citation is better than no citation. If your citations are not perfect, go back and correct them at some point. As long as you provide a trail for someone else to follow that will be sufficient in the short term.

A good source citation will tell you the answer to these questions:

• Who – Who is the source referring to?
• What- What does the source document?
• When – When was the event, and when was the source created?
• Where – Where is the source located (which repository or archive)
• Where – Where did you access it? (On Ancestry.com, online, at the library, etc.)

• Citations (Evidence Style) at Family Search Wiki
• Citations (Footnotes) at Family Search Wiki

My personal view with citations for my One-Name study is to document where the information came from. So for a US Census I would cite it as NARA and then say where I accessed the material.

For material from The National Archives (TNA) at Kew I would give the Census year, the RG reference and then say where I accessed the information. I do this because most organisations who enter into an arrangement with Ancestry, FindmyPast or The Genealogists will do so for a period of time. That means that at some point, material on Ancestry, or other providers might switch to another provider. There are documents in my files where I saw the material at a repository which no longer exists as a single establishment, but is now part of another, large organisation and I have subsequently seem the same material in more than one place.

An example of this is the image below, the 1881 Census for my Great Grandmother, Annie Prudence Harris, then aged 1 year and living in Puttenham Surrey with her parents and siblings.

• I first saw the document on a microfilm in the summer of 1989 at Guildford local studies library
• I later saw the document on a microfilm in 2003 at the Surrey History Centre, Woking
• I have a complete set of the Census material in my filing cabinet in my office as part of my Puttenham and Wanborough One-Place Study
• I have seen the image via Ancestry
• The source citation is actually Class: RG11; Piece: 780; Folio: 91; Page: 6; GSU roll: 1341183

Created by Julie Goucher, 2023

The best way to proceed with a Surname Project is to have given some thought to the approach of your study. It won’t always be a perfect method and it may change over time depending on a variety of factors and I touched on methodology briefly here and here.

I have changed my method during the time I have been a Guild of One-Name Studies member several times and did this as I changed my aims and developed the idea of using the Members Website Project (MWP) which is a Guild members benefit.

The method that you will use to collect material will vary depending on:

• The material you are collecting – which data set
• How easy it is to obtain the material?
  • Are you taking a research trip?
  • Are you grabbing a day to research whilst on a family holiday or with limited time?
  • Are you downloading a data set from an online resource with an access time frame? (it is free for a limited time ?)
• The way you are storing material that you download.

All of these considerations should enable you to establish a working plan. That way you should have a less cluttered approached to collecting material. Whatever you do, if you need to shelf one data set and work another because of any of the reasons mentioned here or others, record where you got up to and always record nil results. 

Created by Julie Goucher, 2023

There are several ways you can learn about the concept of a One-Name Study or Surname Research.

The first is the Guild of One-Name Studies website, the second is the Introduction to One-Name Studies offered by Pharos for which I am the tutor and Thirdly, the Guild publication, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom – the art of a One-Name Study which is available from the Guild Shop.

The next opportunity is to join the Guild and take advantage of the many benefits offered to Members, the knowledge of around 2,500 members and by just beginning your study. Truth be told, you are possibly already underway with your study, you might not realise just yet.

On the Guild website there is some key pages that you might find very useful and these are:

• About the Guild
• About One-Name Studies
• Getting Started with One-Name Study

The Guild offers a range of educational opportunities, from monthly webinars and quarterly seminars. Most of the talks are recorded and available to members in a suite of educational offerings.

Created by Julie Goucher, 2023

I am almost too embarrassed to tell you where I keep my One-Name study material. I once had a boss who said “there are filers and pilers and which one of you?” It was a rhetorical question and I just gave a kind of smile instead of an answer.

In almost despair I bought a rather nice Curver box from Hobby Craft which takes A4 sheets and has some space over and have one for each of my studies. I then have several drawers and files in the filing cabinet relating to my One-Name Studies specifically and plan to make the entire website the home of my study material. Dumping all the paper and only retaining photographs, certificates and documents.

The website is backed up weekly and I hold a separate archive of material which is located in the cloud, on a USB stick, and an external hard drive. I will be also deposit a complete set of material in the library of the Guild of One-Name Studies – I am a belts and braces kind of girl, what can I say!

The key thing is to stop collecting material and process what you have, but every now and again I do gather material, a case in point is the material of the Orlando references that I found relating to those that perished in Dachau Concentration Camp and more on them, another time.

There is a section on organising a One-Name Study in the Pharos Introduction to One-Name Studies course

Created by Julie Goucher, 2023

As we research, we go on this fascinating journey. Gathering materials of individuals who may connect to our family, or just share the surname, either through birth, marriage or perhaps for some other reason.

If we look at a surname distribution map we can we can gain an idea of where people were at a particular point in  time. We can then wonder:

• Why they were there
• When did they get there
• Who were they with
• How long have they been with the people they are with
• How did they get there

All valid questions and these are just a few of the many questions that could be asked. One of my Pharos students is researching the Irish name of GLASSETT. I was a little curious.

I had a quick look at S & N’s website called The Genealogist – if you don’t have a subscription you can still do the search of a surname for each of the census decades. As it gives the result you can select to see the results in the form of a map, which is an excellent provision from S & N, sadly they don’t have maps for the Irish census, but they do for Great Britain, across the Census years, including what is described as a 1921 substitute.

The journey of following where individuals came from and went to is great for our studies, but what about the journey we go on as researchers? We need to record not just our positive outcomes, but also our negative ones. Track your thoughts of where you can look to research, expand your knowledge and create an understanding of the context of the lives of people that share the same name. What do we hope to find?

Document your journey, and that recording will become part of the history of your study.

Created by Julie Goucher, 2023

We are all individuals and our studies are just like us, totally individual. One of the great things I love about the Guild is the is the ethos of sharing with others, members and non-members alike, and encouragement for others to follow others great ideas.

A great example of this came from the Sennett One-Name Study A while ago Corinne shared the concept of a virtual cemetery on Find A Grave. Essentially a study holder creates a virtual cemetery on the Find A Grave website and rather than the cemetery be a location, the common theme is the surname. Here is the Virtual cemetery I created for the Butcher surname. It is not anywhere near complete and may never be so, but it is in existence and not only enables me to add individuals to the virtual cemetery, but also to “advertise” the Butcher study – thanks Corinne!

In a similar vein I have shared my methodology as a way of highlighting a possible way that another might do their study. We all read material written by others and reflect upon that and perhaps adopt an element of what we have read into our own lives or existence. Why should our One-Name studies be any different.

Isaac Newton is known for his quote “Standing on the shoulders of Giants” and that is what this about.

Created by Julie Goucher, 2023

The Guild of One-Name Studies is one of the most progressive genealogical organisations that I know, certainly in the UK at least. Firstly, full disclaimer, I am a Trustee and an Officer, so I am bound think positive things. Do we always get it right, no we don’t and I say that as a Trustee with integrity and a realist. We try and always seek to improve and give members value for money.

I also belong to a substantial genealogical group in the UK whose membership fees are more than the Guild’s. They, in my personal view give me less value for money than the Guild and the question of. is that important is perhaps a topic for another day and fair warning, that day may never come! It comes down to what is important to us as individual genealogists.

So why is H for Help? The Guild is one of the most helpful and knowledgeable group of people that I know. There is always a member who knows the answer to any question asked, whether that is asked via the Members only Facebook group, the members only email mailing list or via the Web Forum which is in the members room. We also have a Facebook page and non-members can use that ask questions. There too, is more than knowledge.

There are the Guild services, such as those folks who are part of the infrastructure of the Members’ Website Project or those members who keep the website going and remain migrating the material from the old part of the site to the shiny new one. Members who operate what is called a Marriage Challenge and I promise to write more about that in the future. (For those of you who have been reading along, I have kept a list of my future promised posts! – the challenge is not loosing the list!). Members who do the Webinars offered by the Guild or the seminars which are held quarterly. Members who work on the journal, those who write the articles, the editor or the proof readers.

The Guild offers all those services and member benefits totally on the work of volunteers – there is NO paid staff, and that is what I find remarkable – Members helping Members.

Of course those shown in the above image are just the volunteer run member benefits, that does not include all the other volunteers who work behind the scenes making sure the wheels turn and don’t fall off! Anyone who has contacted the Guild telephone help desk by telephone would have likely to have spoken to Roy in England who answers the calls made to the UK or US free (toll) number or Karen who answers the Australian free (toll) number and that is just one example.

So whatever the question, there is a chance that one of our almost 2,500 members knows the answer or knows someone who does! And that is before we even consider what each member with a registered surname knows about the individuals in their respective studies. How could H have been for anything else but Help?