Archive Centres - "A Must Contact" Resource: 52 Ancestors Wk. 5

"At the Library" is the theme of this week's "52 Ancestors" prompt.  I am featuring here a plea to use Archive Centres relevant to your research.  We are so used now to hunting for information online, but there is a wealth of family history research   "beyond the internet".

ARCHIVE CENTRES are "must contact" places!  There is a sense of adventure in   exploring the unique records and touching handwritten pages that record details  of  ancestors in their own lifetime.

The key to tracing offline records is often a census entry giving a clue as to occupation or status - a prompt to check what is available locally. 
 

If you cannot get to a centre relevant to your research, take a look at their web site, search their online catalogue, and see the range of enquiry services on offer from a simple "look up" to paid in-depth research packages.

In the course of my family history research,  I traced at Lancashire Archives:

• A  marriage bond of 1786 relating to my GGG Grandfather Henry Danson. 
• Two Danson wills, dated 1821 and 1831. 
  
   
   
• An 1810  bastardy claim,where John Danson was ordered to pay support for his "said bastard child" - a foreunner of the Child Support Agency!
• A local 1851 directory which listed listed my G.G. grandfather Henry Danson at Trap Farm, Carleton, his neighbour and brother-in-law John Bryning,  and,  under Inns and Taverns,  two relations by marriage William Gaulter of the Golden Ball and Cornelius Cardwell  of the Kings Arms, plus son-in-law watchmaker James Brownbill. 

Tyne and Wear Archives were able to help  me in researching my husband's mariner and police ancestors in South Shields.

• I discoverer the name of the ships on which master mariner  Robert Donaldson had sailed on, thejourneys he made and the fate of his ships.  
• I obtained  the service record of two White ancestors who had served in the River Police, but fell foul themselves of the law and were charged with assault.    

Scottish Borders Archives at the Heritage Hub, Hawick is now my local centre and although I do not have Borders ancestry, I enjoy browsing through  its collections. which include: 

Poor Law Records
Seeing an ancestor described as a "pauper" in a census return conjures up images of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" and a time when the word "poorhouse" (or "workhouse" struck fear in people living close to destitution.  But for family historians searching for a story beyond the simple names and dates, such a discovery is an  immediate prompt to turn to Poor Law Records. 

The Victorians  were great bureaucrats and the Heritage Hub holds a large collection of local Poor Law Registers, Poor Relief Applications and Parochial Board Minute Books, many of which can give a mini-biography of an ancestor, in often tragic circumstances, with details of name, address, aged, birthplace, marital status,  occupation, whether disabled and if so how, financial circumstances, and defendants. 

Bear in mind that being a "pauper" did not always mean being admitted to the poorhouse, as those on "out relief" lived in the  community and received support such as clothing, fuel or food.  Such was the case of  15 year old James Robertson, described as "delicate and deformed by spine curvature and will never be able to do much.  He needs a suit of clothes, 2 pairs of stockings and 2 handkerchiefs.  Allowed."

Police Records
If your ancestor was a constable or even  on the other side  of the law,  these are the source to look at  and include mug shot photos of criminals, lists of prisoners, plus constable registers with personal details including descriptions. 

Council Records 
Being a Councillor might seem rather dull, but the Burgh, Town and County Council  Minute Books,  give a full description of burgh affairs and discussions and can reveal interesting sidelines such as the councillor in the 1880's who was petitioning in support of woman's suffrage, long before it was close to becoming a reality.
 
School Records
If your ancestor was a teacher, then the School Records are the place to look - with Log Books recording daily school life, and School Board Minute Books and Education Committee Minute Books recording appointments - and dismissals! If you are lucky you may get a glowing testimony from an Inspector's Report, such as this 1873 entry at Glenholm School, Peeblesshire, where a school inspector reported "This small school was taught by Mr Grieve in an intelligent, painstaking and efficient manner". We would all love to find such a  testimonial on an ancestor.  

Apart from School Registers, individial pupils rarely get mentioned in the School Log Books  I  have  consulted.

Militia Records
Was your male ancestor aged around 20-30 in the period of the Napoleonic Wars (1790's-1815)? Then he might well appear on the Militia Lists, whereby each parish was charged with setting up a volunteer force in the event of a French invasion. The lists may give little more than a name, address and occupation but they are also particularly noteworthy in pre-dating the first published census of 1841, so may be the only record of an ordinary man.   

Farming Records  
Most  of us must count farmers, shepherds, hinds, carters and  ag. labs amongst our ancestors, but how to find out more about their lives?  Realistically records on individuals  are likely to focus on  landed gentry and tenant farmers, rather than their workers.  I live in a rural region and my archive centre has a wealth of information that can provide background on estates,  and life in agricultural communities.  For example:

Advertisements of sale of stock 
Auction Mart records
Drawings of farm machinery
Field name survey 
Farmers' Club & Pastoral Societies - members lists and minute books
Individual farm records - day books, account books etc. 
 
You may find titbits of information such as A. S Pringle winning  prizes at an agricultural show  in 1876 in the class of "Implements of Husbandry"  for "a self acting horse rake" and "a turnip topping and tailing machine".

  

Archive Centres are also repositories for electoral rolls, valuation rolls of property, maps, vintage postcards, maps, directories, newspapers, and the many small local history books written by enthusiast local historians, that can add so much to learning about the  communities in which our ancestors lived.   I found a photograph of the street where my great grandparents lived (since demolished to make way for a small shopping centre), plus a photograph of my great uncle in a football team before the First World War. 

Conclusion:
Family history is so much more that names and dates, and can take you in  many directions.  You never know what you might unearth to throw light on your ancestors' lives and enhance your family history writing!

Note:  In the UK Date Protection restrictions apply to most post-1900 records

 where personal names are given. Archive staff will advise. 

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