Cornish Census Returns

The Sharrocks of Cornwall

2011-09-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

In 1620, the College of Heralds visited Cornwall. Their visit was to check on the pedigrees of families claiming the right to bear arms. Armigerous families. Amongst the minor gentry of Cornwall was a family listed as the Sharrocks of Veryan. A later note was attached to the family tree claiming that they had originated in Lancashire, fled to Ireland, where they stayed for a hundred years before moving to Cornwall.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to link my wife’s paternal line to the Visitation family. She seems to be descended from a Thomas Sharrock, born about 1640, location unknown. His oldest known child was Matthew, baptised in St Just in Roseland in 1671. Matthew is my wife’s 6 times grandfather.

The family lived in and around St Mawes, where they were farmers. Matthew described himself as Yeoman, one step above a tenant farmer, and fairly respectable, as he was the Reeve of the Manor of St Mawes.

Throughout the 18th century, the family remained in St Mawes, presumably farming and also fishing. Certainly Joseph Sharrock, who died in 1833, was a mariner. The next generation joined the Royal Navy and then the Coastguard. The Coastguard was recruited from Navy personnel. Usually, tours of duty were not in the man’s home town, so the family moved to Boscastle on the north coast of Cornwall.

The next generation of my wife’s family was born near Swanage in Dorset at yet another Coastguard station. Joseph Pascal Rowe Sharrock, born in 1843, became a mariner in the Merchant Marine, often sailing out of Boscastle. The family now remained on the North coast of Cornwall, spread out between Newquay and Bude.

The next generation left the sea and settled in Newquay.

Although I cannot find any link between the Visitation family and that of my wife, all of the Sharrocks in Cornwall till quite recently are members of this one family. There were also Sharrocks in Cornwall before the Visitation family. So, the note on the 1620 pedigree might be correct and the Sharrocks arrived in Cornwall in the 14th century. Long enough to be naturalised?

Rioting

2011-08-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

In 1961 I was a 25-year old sergeant in the RAF. I was stationed in Singapore flying Shackletons out of RAF Changi.

In the British colonies, as in the UK, the military were committed to assisting the Civil Power However, in Singapore it was a bit more immediate than in the UK. Which is how I came to be in a scruffy street in central Singapore. I was not on my own, there was a very young officer (younger than me), a Chinese magistrate and 30 airmen. We were a riot squad. Six of the airmen had rifles but no ammunition; the rest had batons. They wore khaki shirts and shorts with long socks and boots. They also wore steel helmets. The officer and I were dressed in similar fashion and we had revolvers - also with no ammo.

The opposition was about 20 Ghurka soldiers in sports kit The weren’t allowed to throw things at us, so they shouted, leaped about and pulled faces. A bit like the New Zealand rugby squad in their pre-match dance.

The magistrate read the riot act and we then unfurled our banner. Disperse or we fire. The airmen with rifles moved from the rear of the squad to the front, but didn’t aim their weapons. This had no effect, so the officer ordered me to send in the snatch squads. There were 3 pairs of airmen detailed off for this and they ran forward to nobble significant rioters. Three fights started, but eventually they secured three Ghurkas. I turned to my officer to report this and found him gone. Half a dozen Ghurkas had snuck up a side alley and seized this commissioned twit. He was supposed to stay in the middle of the squad but had wandered off for some reason. I watched him being hustled off down the alley and out of sight.

I was then seized of the dilemma that had bothered Hannibal, Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington. Should I split my force, deal with the rioters and at the same time chase after my officer. Things seemed to be going well without him, so I decided to deal with the rioters and forget about him. My own inclination was to order the riflemen to open fire (shouting bang bang), but the magistrate thought not. In fact, I was now in charge, once he had read the riot act he was out of the loop. However, I took his advice and got ready to lead the squad in a frontal attack on the Ghurkas.

At that point, the Army officer acting as observer stepped in and halted the exercise. He thought it had gone well, although he did suggest that losing your officer was pretty bad form. The Ghurkas returned my officer and we all got into our truck.

Another part of life’s rich pattern was complete!

Monthly newsletter for FreeBMD, FreeCEN and FreeREG

2011-03-22T09:17:00.001-07:00

Issue 1 - March 2011

Welcome to the first FreeUKGEN newsletter, updating you on the latest information about the three constituent projects, FreeBMD, FreeCEN and FreeREG.

Dr Nick Barratt - Executive Director (nick.barratt@virgin.net)

1. Tri-project seminar

The tri-project seminar will take place on Thursday 21 April 2011 at The National Archives.

2. Executive meetings

In advance of the Tri-project seminar on 21 April, I will be meeting the Executives of FreeCEN and FreeREG on 29 March to discuss detailed requirements for each project.

3. Access to data and copyright

This issue remains a major concern to FreeCEN and FreeREG, and is currently being addressed in conversations with various organisations, including Familysearch, Ancestry, Find My Past and the Federation of Family History Societies. Contact with county and diocesan archives will also be made, once the first set of discussions to obtain material via partner organisations have concluded.

However, the situation is complicated by copyright issues which need to be addressed at the same time. This is not an easy area to work in, given the way copyright is created and assigned especially when ‘format shifting’ original raw data into printed format, microform or digital image. Similarly, copyright of transcriptions entered into the three project websites needs clarification as well and is also being addressed as an ongoing issue.

4. Software and website development

We are currently examining ways to make the three project websites look more synchronised, as well as provide elements of synchronicity when searching for people. The aim is to move towards a front-end platform that serves as a portal to the three sites, permitting the user to search across all three datasets by name; or drilling down into each individual website to search specific datasets, as they do at the moment. The look and feel – the skin – of the sites needs to be updated, and decisions made about the level of advertising hosted on each site, as without funds we cannot survive as an organisation.

Linked to this is a recognition that amendments need to be made to the current software for creation and submission of transcription data to ease the workload of Dave Mayall, and make the data easier to search across the projects. As with copyright, this is a tricky area because of the ongoing nature of the work; integrating new software could cause problems, whilst a completely new operating system might be equally disruptive. Work is ongoing, though, to fix existing problems based on the feedback we receive from the project Executives and Co-ordinators; however, as with any volunteer network, these things can take time so one route under consideration is the injection of funds to commission some work in this area. We are talking to a couple of organisations that might be able to assist with this, as well as the possibility of Open Source coding from the web or recruiting more technical volunteers. If you know of anyone who would be able to assist with coding and web development, please let me know via email.

5. Marketing and Promotion

Until the website situation is addressed, there is only a limited amount of marketing and promotion we can do around the three projects. However, an article about the work of FreeREG in Your Family History magazine generated a flood of enquiries from potential volunteers; and at the recent Who Do You Think You Are Live event, held at Olympia 25 – 27 February 2011 the projects won third place in Family Tree magazine’s Website of the Decade award, as voted for by the readers of the magazine. Given that this is the largest circulating magazine in the sector, and considering the number of commercial websites out there with large budget spends, this is an amazing achievement and one of the Trustees, Camilla von Massenbach, proudly collected the award at the event. Congratulations must go to everyone – the transcribers for producing the data, the Co-ordinators and Executives of the three projects, and the Trustees for facilitating the site.

We are also looking into using the social network Twitter to promote our work, and encourage volunteers to join up for transcription. At the moment, the most obvious user names have already been taken – FreeBMD, FreeCEN and FreeREG – so alternatives are being sought. If anyone would like to manage their relevant project account and post information, please let me know.

6. Open Genealogical Alliance

The three projects, under the banner of FreeBMD, have become major supporters of the Open Genealogical Alliance, announced at Who Do You Think You Are Live on the main theatre with the support of actress Miriam Margolyes. The aim of OGA is to challenge the current predominance of commercial organisations in the sector, as they skew access to data towards ‘pay-per-view’ models which means organisations such as ours are disadvantaged when trying to access data at source from the archives. This is one of the issues we’re facing at the moment when negotiating with county archives for access to parish registers, albeit a special case since parish registers are not considered public records per se, something else that OGA will be examining as part of its remit. As a consequence, OGA is questioning whether pay per view data is truly open; and if not, then projects such as ours should be given free access to the digital images to work off – thus producing higher quality ‘clean’ transcriptions which will benefit everyone.

Other projects that OGA are investigating include an economic survey of the genealogical sector, examining ways in which the market can still be monetised, but more room is made for volunteer transcription projects without compromising the need for archives to digitise, and recover costs (linked to what’s been outlined above); a survey of the various means of access to genealogical data, to produce a one stop shop guide to all data on the web (think ‘genealogy supermarket price comparison website, and you’re on the right lines); an assessment of Big Society Government projects that we could get involved with, such as the civil registration digitisation and indexing project that was halted last year; and an assessment of the legal status of parish registers – public record or private deposit by the church.

The other key driver of OGA is the Open Rights Group, and supporters also include the Open Knowledge Foundation and the Federation of Family History Societies. The website has only just been launched www.opengenalliance.org and you can follow them on Twitter @opengenalliance

This is an edited version - edited by me.

Cornish Family History for Free

2010-12-07T01:53:00.000-08:00

Occasionally I get emails asking for advice on researching Cornish family history. Sometimes the writer seems to be asking me to conduct family history research - to which I say no thank you. However, I do have advice on how to carry it out online - and for free.

The first port of call should be the Cornish pages of GENUKI. Not only is there lots of information about Cornwall in general, there is a page for each parish. Numerous sources of information are linked to these pages.

Then you might check out the Cornish OPC scheme web site. Here again, each parish has its own page and there is much information, both in general and in particular. The Online Parish Clerks are committed to helping FH researchers and you should write to them asking for help. At the very least, they should be able to give advice on where to look.

A daughter project of the OPC scheme is C-PROP. Originally intended to carry parish register transcripts (which it still does), it has expanded its scope to include other sorts of data. It is a FREE online searchable database. No other county has one.

All of the Cornish 19th century census returns have been transcribed and posted online at the COCP web site. You can search them as texts or you can use the accompanying search engine. All of the 2.25 million records have also been uploaded to the FREECEN database.

You should join the CON-GEN Rootsweb mailing list. Post your questions there remembering to give as much detail as you can. List your surnames of interest in the subject line in BLOCK capitals. You can search the mailing list archives for these names, hopefully other people have included your names in their subject lines. In any case, an archival search will also search the texts.

On the wider national front, you can search for free the index of certificates for the UK on FreeBMD. Over 16 million census records are available on FREECEN and about 5 million parish register entries on FREEREG. Not all of these are Cornish obviously.

Finally, there is on the international scene, the LDS, the Mormons. Their database, which is free, contains hundreds of millions of entries and is constantly enlarging itself.

There are other avenues open to you, such as the Cornish FHS, but these are not free.

By the way, I have attended a number of “granny hunts” at Wadebridge. I usually ask beginners (and others) if they have taken the time to type their names and places of interest into Google. It is surprising how many haven’t, almost as surprising as what turns up. My brother-in-law, who is in the film business, had about ten thousand hits!

I haven’t listed any URLs (lazy) but Google will find them for you.

The Cornish OPC scheme - a personal view.

2010-11-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

Looking round at the family history scene now, it is difficult to remember what it was like ten years ago when the OPC scheme was conceived. No Ancestry, no Familysearch and most people using computers had just been promoted from using toasters!

The three of us first met at the AGM of the CFHS, although we had been in touch via the internet and Paul and David had actually met as the latter returned from Canada. At the AGM we asked what were the plans of the CFHS to use digital media including the internet. Not only did they have no plans, but later correspondence revealed that the Chairman at that time was actively hostile to anything electronic.

The first sign of the changes to come was the successful launch of FreeBMD. All those hours we spent pouring over microfiche or huge books to locate the reference numbers you needed to buy an ancestral certificate. Now, hundreds of volunteers were transcribing the indexes and putting them online – free-to-view.

A sister project of FreeBMD was FreeCen. In 1999 that project was running a pilot project transcribing the Devon 1891 returns. I invited myself aboard and started off transcribing the Cornwall 1891. I was pleasantly surprised to find volunteers easy to recruit. So easy, that we started up the 1841 in parallel.

After the AGM, the three of us decided to meet for a pub lunch once a month to discuss family history. Occasional shouting attracted interest from the regulars and we got FH questions from some of them. We thought that, given the successful launch of the census project, that it would be nice to turn to the parish registers and give them the same treatment. Then we decided that we quite liked the “adopt-a-parish” idea. But it was the arrival of the name “Online Parish Clerk” that spurred us into action.

We liked it because it married the internet to family history. We also widened the scope to include any data, not just parish registers. We also liked it because it involved the worldwide Cornish online society. A feature of the Cornish census project was something that the organizers of FreeCen didn’t like. The emphasis in recruiting was on the Cornishness of the project.

Initially, the job of scheme co-ordinator was just to maintain a list of parishes and OPCs. Recruiting was done by occasional messages on the Cornish Rootsweb mailing lists. In addition, we appealed for anyone who had transcribed parish registers to gift their work to us. Our intention was to accumulate these transcripts to place them online free-to-view – one day.

This approach was maintained for two or three years with considerable success. Things changed when Myra took over as co-ordinator. The scheme acquired its own web site with a page for each parish. Then the searchable online database was created. The transcription of parish registers took off when the LDS started to supply copies on disc. Under Myra’s epic leadership, other sources of data were incorporated into the database.

In my opinion, Myra, aided by Diane Donohue, Julia Mossman and Bill O’Reilly, has created a scheme that is better than our original vision. I look forward to the next ten years!

The history of Mitchell

2010-06-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

Michel is first styled a manor (manerium) in 1301 and a borough (burgus) in 1305, but both these titles were in process of creation in the earlier part of the thirteenth century. It is evident that the community was in its infancy at this time and we need not look in Domesday for any reference to it. In 1239 Walter de Ralegh and Isabel his wife (in whose right he was lord of the Manor of Degembris) obtained a royal charter for a yearly fair on St Francis’ day and a weekly market at Meideshol. It is probable that the chapel of ease at Michell dedicated to St Francis was erected by Walter de Ralegh at this time. We find it mentioned in a deed of 1292, and its dedication shows that it could hardly have been erected before the canonization of St Francis in 1222 and probably dates from about 1239. St Francis was the patron of the community and the chief Court Leet was held on the day after his feast.

In the early thirteenth century we can picture the infant community of Michell as a mere appendage to the Manor of Degembris. In 1284, however, Peter de Ralegh sold that manor to Sir John de Pello Prato. Michell was at this time cut adrift from the manor and sold separately to Sir Reynfry Arundell, who died lord of it in 1288. Once separated from the parent manor, the new Manor and Borough of Michell could hope to develop as an independent community. In 1283 it had sent its own representatives, a jury of six, to the Eyre at Launceston, thereby showing its right to a separate representation from the Hundred of Pydar. It did the same in 1301 and 1305. In 1283 and 1301 it bears the humble title of ‘villa’ but in 1305 the style ‘burgus’ is used to the first time. Sir Reynfry Arundell probably purchased Michell as a speculation. His son in 1289, regardless of the laws of political economy, raised the tolls at the fair, to the great hurt of the whole country. For this he was punished at the Eyre of 1301. At the same time he was compelled to show by what warrant he claimed ‘emendation of the assize of bread and ale when broken’, in his Manor of Medeshole.

Michell never became wholly exempt from its duties as a tithing of the Hundred of Pydar, despite its separate representation at the Eyre. It had to pay 13s. 4d. as smoke-silver and also maintain a thing-man at the Hundred Courts. In 1327 the ‘villa de Medeshole’ pays the subsidy apart from the parishes of St Enoder and Newlyn in which it was situated. In later rolls, however, no distinction of this kind is made.

Besides the actual village, the limits of the co-extensive ‘Manor and Borough’ included the tenements of Goonmarth and Nantellion. The greater part lay in St Enoder parish, the residue in Newlyn.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there were probably some eight free burgesses, holding burgages of the lord (freeholders). Some of these holdings were amalgamated and their holders at the end of the eighteenth century became the five ‘Mesne-Lords’ of the borough, who were created by the chief lord of the manor by lease and release; and it was from among these that the portreeve or returning office had to be chosen. The lord of the manor had become the ‘chief lord’. In 1552, when the borough acquired parliamentary representation, these offices and titles gained a real importance. After constant disputes the House of Commons finally decided that the mesne-lord (including the portreeve), and the inhabitants who paid scot and lot (i.e. Rates), were alone entitled to vote. In 1829 there were four mesne-lords and three rate-payers!

Michell was probably at the zenith of its prosperity in the fourteenth century, before the Black Death. It sank in the fifteenth to rise again under Henry VII. Parliamentary representation failed to do more than keep it a living and increasingly corrupt corpse. After 1832 it became a peaceful country hamlet.

The People of Mitchell 1851

2010-06-07T03:01:00.000-07:00

The people of Mitchell were enumerated in April 1851. There were 183 people, divided into the parishes of St Enoder (101) and Newlyn East (82). The number of people and households has doubled since 1851, this is mainly due to the lead mine a mile to the north at Wheal Rose.

Household 1 Richard Pope Head M 33 Ag Lab born Lanteglos

Household 2 Thomas Courtis Head M 36 Ag Lab born Newlyn

Household 3 Mary Moyle Head U 25 School Mistress born Kenwyn

Household 4 Simon Yeoman Head M 45 Blacksmith born Lower St. Columb

Household 5 William Harris Head M 25 Lead Miner born St. Clements

Household 6 John Curtiss Head M 47 Labourer born Crantock

Household 7 Ann Batten Head W 43 Employed On Farm born St. Dennis

Household 8 William Nancarrow Head M 57 Mason Emp 2 Men born Newlyn

Household 9 John Trenberth Head M 43 Lead Miner born Gwinear

Household 10 Samuel Brabyn Head M 35 Ag Lab born Mawgan

Household 11 Philip Oates Head M 39 Lead Miner born St. Agnes

Household 12 Mary Ann Williams Head W 65 Retired Dressmaker born St. Minver

Household 13 Francis Bassett Head M 28 Innkeeper & Farmer Of 140a born Mitchell

Household 14 Mary Williams Head M 61 Maltster's Wife born Kea

Household 15 Charles Woon Parks Head M 49 Farmer Of 180a Emp 6 Men born Newlyn

Household 16 William Bassett Head M 27 Miner born Roche

Household 17 Henry Henwood Head M 30 Butcher born Newlyn

Household 18 Grace Tamblyn Head W 38 Shopkeeper born St. Erme

Household 19 Michael M Chegwidden Head M 33 Lead Mine Agent born Gwennap

Household 20 John Vincent Head M 60 Retired Farmer born Crantock

Household 21 William Tremayne Head M 31 Lead Mine Agent born St. Mewan

Household 22 Ann Long Head W 48 Grocer born Gwennap

Household 23 William Tremayne Head M 55 Lead Mine Agent born Phillack

Household 24 Timothy Symons Head M 62 Retired Farmer born Grampound

Household 25 William Tamblyn Head M 37 Master Carpenter Emp 1 Man born St. Enoder

Household 26 Elizabeth Merrifield Head W 51 Blacksmith Widow born St. Enoder

Household 27 William Merrifield Head M 28 Blacksmith born St. Erme

Household 28 James Tamblyn Head M 54 Farmer Of 10 a born St. Enoder

Household 29 Richard Manhire Head M 49 Farmer Of 30a Emp 1 Man born St. Enoder

Household 30 John May Head M 53 Ag Lab born Newlyn

Household 31 Richard May Head U 20 Lead Miner born St. Enoder

Household 32 William H Martyn Head M 25 Master Blacksmith Emp 1 Man born Newlyn

Household 33 John Manhire Head M 46 Master Shoemaker Emp 2 Men born St. Enoder

Household 34 William Whetter Head U 57 Ag Lab born Mitchell

Household 35 James Martyn Head M 30 Carpenter (Journeyman) born Mitchell

Household 36 James Oliver Head M 29 Lead Miner born Ladock

Household 37 Amy Francis Head U 70 Annuitant born St. Minver Blind

Household 38 Robert Vincent Head M 25 Maltster Farmer 23a 3 Men born St. Enoder

Household 39 Richard Tabb Head M 35 Lead Miner St. Enoder

The People of Mitchell 1841

2010-06-07T02:35:00.000-07:00

On the 6th June 1841, the people of Mitchell were enumerated. The census showed there were about 70 people in 18 households. Just over 50 were of working age - 14 years and upwards. The rest were children and one Army Pensioner. At that time, the village straddled the parish boundary between St Enoder and Newlyn East. Households 1-12 were in Newlyn East, the rest in St Enoder. Addresses were not in general use in 1841.

Household 1 - Tamson Bilkey 65 Female Servant Born Cornwall

Household 2 – Francis Bassett 20 Inn Keeper Born Cornwall

Household 3 - John Kendall 60 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 4 - William Nancarrow 40 Mason & Builder Born Cornwall

Household 5 - Richard Bassett 50 Farmer Born Cornwall

Household 6 - Charles Parks Woon 40 Farmer Born Cornwall

Household 7 -Richard May 35 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 8 - Thomas Curtis 25 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 9 - Nathan Tamblyn 30 Carpenter Born Cornwall

Household 10 - John Curtis 35 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 10 - James Morcom 30 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 12 - Mary Kea 40 Independent Born Cornwall

Household 13 - William Whetton 47 Ag Lab Born Cornwall

Household 14 - John Vincent 50 Farmer Born Cornwall

Household 15 - Edwd. Budge 50 Drainer Born Cornwall

Household 16 – Harriet Tamblyn 20 Female Servant born Cornwall

Household 17 - Amy Francis 55 Ind Born Cornwall

Household 18 - John Manhire 35 Cordwainer Born Cornwall

Household 19 - Richd. Manhire 40 Farmer Born Cornwall

Household 20 - William Bassett 40 Farmer Born Cornwall

The House of Lords

2010-05-17T03:43:00.001-07:00

One of the worst characteristics of the Blair-Brown governments of the last 13 years has been their cavalier attitude towards our constitutional arrangements. Nothing has been sacred to them, from a botched Scottish devolution to the abolition of the heretidary peerage.

Here is my plan for reform of the House of Lords.

There should be an elected House of Lords, populated by Senators. These Senators would be elected under our normal first-past-the-post arrangements, with two Senators from each of our ancient counties with extra ones from London and a few other large cities. They would serve a fixed five-year term. None could serve more than five terms or for more than three consecutive terms for a particular county. Minimum age would be 40 and retirement would be automatic on reaching the state pension age.

One of the most noticeable things about the recent election was the almost total absence of women from the national campaign. This is carried over into the current government, with only one major office filled by a woman. So each county would be required to elect a senator of each sex.

A major objection to an elected House of Lords is that we don’t really need another layer of party politicians. Obviously, you couldn’t prevent political parties putting up candidates but you could discourage them by banning Senators from being members of the government of the day. They would have to resign.

It is often said that the current arrangements means that the House of Lords holds lots of expertise and experience. This might be true, but it also houses a lot of clapped out ex-politicians. Personally, I can’t see why Melvyn Bragg, for instance, should be making laws for me. The new Senators would be salaried and would have a substantial budget to pay for any expert advice and research they needed. The remaining hereditary peers and the life peers could retain their titles but would lose access to the Palace of Westminster.

As they are serving for a fixed term, there would be a fixed date for Senatorial elections. This would be the first Sunday in May and 20% of the Senators would be up for election every year. This would also be day for local elections. The current government seems to be inching towards a fixed term for the House of Commons, so perhaps this “Election Day” could serve us for all three types of elections.

This new Senate should inherit the powers of the current House and its first task should be to instigate a joint commission with the House of Commons into their future relationship. If this commission resulted in proposals for change, then they must be put to a general referendum.

Indeed, this is my final proposal. The switch from appointed Lords to elected Senators must be first agreed by the electorate in a referendum.

A mounting tide of irritation!

2009-07-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

Last February, I noticed that I could get all I wanted from my ISP, Demon, by using their Demon Home 8000 service rather than my current service, Demon Home Office 8000. Thus saving £4 a month! I wrote to them and they sent me the paperwork which I completed and sent back. And thought nothing more of. In May, I switched credit card numbers and noticed that they were still charging me for the Home Office service. I told them and they asked for a copy of my original paperwork. I sent it in.

On July 14th, we had a power interrupt during a thunderstorm. The computer went off, but the router didn’t. Later that day, I noticed I had no broadband connection. The next morning I spoke to the Demon Help Desk. I have always found them to be very helpful, and at the price of a local rate phone call, very cheap.

After checking I had all the correct things set, username, password and so on, they said it was my router. I then spoke to the router people, Draytek. They said it didn’t seem to be the router, but as it was 6 years old, it would probably be a good idea to get a new one. I popped into Truro (using my free bus pass!) and bought one.

Started setting up the new router using the disc supplied by Belkin. This had a set-up wizard, so I used that. The details I inputted were from the previous router, already checked as correct by Demon. The start-up Wizard failed, sticking on the 6th of 6 steps. On the phone again, this time to Belkin. Set up the router using the browser. Nice and easy, except that I couldn’t make a web connection.

Back to Demon. They didn’t know anything about Belkin of course; but we went thru’ the whole rigmarole again and again. Username, password, email address etc, etc. No joy. Finally, they declared that it was a BT line fault, involving my local exchange. This would take 24-48 hours. As I was going away the next morning I decided to leave it for now. In the event, I accessed my email over the weekend using Demon Webmail. I also have a Googlemail account.

On my return home, I took up the phone again with Demon. Every time I contacted the Help Desk I had to go over the whole problem; the notes they are supposed to make don’t seem to avoid having to do this. Eventually they decided it was another BT line fault (they had supposedly fixed the first one) and this time it would take up to five days. I just gave up.

The next day, they phone me – made a change. The gentleman calling identified himself as the BT Line fault guy. It was not a line fault he said. He gave me a new username and said that he was sure it would work. And it did. I had my broadband connection back after 8 days. Why was my username changed? He didn’t really know he said. Nor did he know why the numerous so-called “advisors” I had spoken to hadn’t known either.

So – everything fixed. Of course not. I could not connect to collect emails by my email programme, or by webmail. In both cases, the Demon server said the passwords were wrong. Back on the phone – passwords re-set – still no joy. Whilst waiting for something, I idly sent myself a test message from my Googlemail account. It bounced – domain not known! Back on the phone; and then it dawned on them, someone somewhere had changed my domain name by adding a 1 at the end of Medeschole. It wasn’t the passwords after all.

Although I can’t get them to admit it, what I believe happened was that the change of service from Home Office to Home involved a change of username. They made this change and told no one including their own Help desk. Some days after this change, they also changed the domain name. Once again, they didn’t pass this change on to anyone. I subscribe to a number of mailing lists and companies. All of these are now broken because of the change of domain name.

The Demon Help Desk is helpful but you can’t help feeling that they know little about Apple computers (although they are supposed to be the UK ISP of choice for Apples). And of course, they are based in India or somewhere and English is not their first language. I could hear myself getting more and more irritated!

I am now looking for a new ISP – any ideas?

Change of course - again

2009-03-05T01:41:00.000-08:00

"Parrot with hammer". By Jamie, 2 years old, completed in about ten seconds. Nothing to do with anything really.

Hello folks

With the ending of my assocation with Free Census, the main reason for this blog disappeared. I had thought to change it to Tales from the past, but it is too much like hard work.

So, I am just going to use it as a pulpit to get things off my chest. Mainly about Cornwall of course.

However, if anyone wants to send in a Tale from the past, I would be only too happy to accommodate them and publish it.

Rgds from a sunny Cornwall

Michael

Tales from the Past No 5 - Joseph Ward

2009-02-03T01:42:00.000-08:00

Tales from the Past – Joseph Ward one of Cornwall’s first Police Inspectors

Joseph is my Gt. Gt. Grandfather on my Mum’s side and it’s his fault that I got involved in the Cornwall Online Census Project and later took on the OPC role for Gerrans – hence he has a great deal to answer for!

Joseph was born in Gerrans and was baptised there in Dec 1822, the son of Richard Ward, a labourer, and Harriet Sawle. I really don’t know much about his early years other than a sentence in his obituary saying that “…in early life took to the sea. Not liking this he entered the Metropolitan Police Force. ” That probably explains why I haven’t been able to locate him in the 1841 census as he was probably on a boat somewhere.

He’s still a sailor when he marries Jane Broad Collett in Aug 1850 in Philleigh but 8 months later in the 1851 census he’s a policeman in Kenwyn so according to his obituary he must have already been through the Met. Police in London. His wife was not with him in 1851 but staying with her parents in Philleigh, possibly because she would have been pregnant with Eliza Jane, her first child. Pregnancy seems to have become an almost full time role for her as she produced 10 children over 15 years:
Eliza Jane (1851), Ellen (1853), Richard John (1854), Joseph (my Gt. Grandfather, 1856), Alfred (1857), James (1859), William Henry (1861), Peter Collett (1863), Albert (1865) & Arthur (1866).

While Jane was busy with the children, Joseph was busy with police matters and his name crops up several times in the West Briton e.g.

TRURO POLICE (extract from West Briton 18th March, 1853) On Monday last, John WEST, who lives near Malpas, was charged with being drunk and assaulting policeman WARD while in the execution of his duty. Between nine and ten o'clock on Saturday night, the policeman saw the prisoner lying drunk on the pavement outside the Devon and Cornwall Bank in Boscawen Street. He got him up and advised him to go home, on which the prisoner struck him three or four times. He was fined 5s. and costs, or one month's imprisonment.

TRURO POLICE (Extract from West Briton, Friday August 19, 1853) On Monday last, John TRESIDDER, labourer, of Kenwyn Street was charged with stealing apples from the garden of Mr. John TICKARD, of Trehaverne. He was fined 40s., or in default to be committed for two months to hard labour. Tresidder was also charged with assaulting policemen WARD and PRATER, while in the execution of their duty. He was fined 40s., or one month's hard labourer for assaulting Ward, and the same penalty for assaulting Prater. George PAPPIN was charged with attempting to rescue Tresidder when in custody, and also with assaulting Policeman Ward and Prater. When in the execution of their duty. He was fined 40a., or one month's hard labourer, for each assault, and was ordered to find sureties to keep the peace for six months.

TRURO POLICE (extract from West Briton, Friday October, 21, 1853) CATHERINE BROWN, 46, was indicted for obtaining from Mary GLUYAS the sum of 2s. 7d., by falsely pretending that a compound metal ring she sold to her was gold. Mr. CHILDS conducted the prosecution. Mary Gluyas is a servant with Mrs. MUDGE, of Truro, and said that on Wednesday, last week, prisoner came to the back door of the house, and offered to sell her a ring, which she said was gold. She asked 3s. 6d. for it, but said she was in distress, and ultimately sold it for 2s. 7d. The ring was produced in court by police constable WARD, and was stated by Mr. W.B. SHAW, goldsmith, of Truro, to be made of compound metal, and that such rings were sold for 8d. or 9d. a dozen. Verdict, Guilty. Another indictment of the same nature was preferred against the prisoner, for obtaining 1s. 9d. from Sibella DUNGEY, of Truro, by selling her a ring of compound metal, which she falsely pretended was gold. Verdict, Guilty. A third indictment against the prisoner for selling a similar ring for gold to Eliza TREGANOWAN, of St. Clement, for 3s. 6d. was on the calendar, but was not proceeded with. Four Months’ Hard Labour.

Joseph moved from Truro to Camborne which is where the family were when my Gt Grandfather (Joseph) was born in 1856. A year later the Cornwall Constabular Force was formed and Joseph was appointed an Inspector – initially in Liskeard and from August 1857 in Penzance. This is Joseph in his rather stylish inspector’s uniform:

In Penzance he and Jane continued to raise their expanding family until tragedy struck when Jane died on Christmas Eve 1867, just 2 weeks after the birth of Arthur. Her death was recoded as being due to “Chronic disease of knee joints and tubercular disease of lungs”. This left Joseph with 10 children to raise on his own and his own health was probably already deteriorating as on 31st Oct 1869 the Chief Constable issued the following bulletin:

“The Chief Constable informs the force that Inspector Ward has now been compelled from ill-health to retire from the service, and would now record his great regret at losing the services of this officer who was one of the first to join the Force on its formation, has served the County faithfully for 12 years and leaves the Force with an exemplary character.

The Chief Officer takes this opportunity of laying before the officers of the Force the scheme by which he determined the gratuity awarded to Inspector Joseph Ward and which he proposes to carry out in similar cases of retirement – as to gratuities to officers of good character compelled by ill heath to leave the Force before completing 15 years service and recommended by the Chief Constable for gratuity.
1) up to 10 years service he shall receive a month’s pay for each year’s service
2) after 10 years service and up to 15 years service, he shall in addition receive at the rate of 2 months pay for each year of good service.”

Thus I infer that Joseph was the first member of the Cornwall Constabulary to be retired through ill health as the Chief Constable had to make up the pension rules for him! His police record shows that he received a gratuity of £105 1s 3d out of the superannuating fund.

Just over a year later Joseph was dead from TB and he was buried in Gulval on 30th Nov 1870. His obituary read as follows:

Death of Mr. Joseph Ward, late of the Cornwall County Constabulary
November 27th, 1870, aged 48 years
Hundreds of persons who knew Inspector Ward first at Truro, then at Camborne, then at St. Just, and last at Penzance will regret to hear of his death, at the latter town on Sunday evening, of haemorrhage of the lungs age 48. Mr. Ward we believe was a native of Gerrans and in early life took to the sea. Not liking this he entered the Metropolitan Police Force and afterwards held a similar situation in Truro. He then removed to Camborne where he was engaged by the parish prior to the establishment of the local constabulary. On the formation of this body he was made an inspector, soon afterwards was transferred to St. Just and, eventually was placed in Penzance with a view to aid him to recover broken health. There his wife died leaving 10 young children. Gradually Inspector Ward’s strength failed owing to repeated bleeding from the lungs and becoming incapacitated from active service he received a gratuity of a hundred guineas from the county, and resigned. For two years since then he had lingered until he succumbed on Sunday to a violent and protracted attack.
At Camborne and St. Just when a policeman was a novelty, and some of the rougher sort, especially on pay days, relished a set to with the man in blue, Inspector Ward had hard times of it occasionally, yet he gained not only the confidence of his superiors, but the goodwill of those who at first looked on him as an enemy. His quiet but firm demeanour, his discharge of his duty without the least appearance of meddling, and his neighbourly conduct, joined to sympathy for his position when sickness fell on him and deprived him of his helpmeet, made for him a host of friends and well-wishers who will regret to hear that his large family are now orphans.

Joseph’s police record describes him as follows:
Height: 5ft 9in. Visage: Long, Complexion: Fresh, Eyes: Hazel, Hair: Brown
…that just about describes me and my facial profile is very similar to his. I’d also very pleased with myself if I could live up to the qualities described in his obituary!

Posted by Bill O'Reilly - UK

Tales from the Past - Thomas Rielly

2009-02-03T01:25:00.000-08:00

Thomas is my Gt. Gt. Grandfather and a bit of a thorn in my side! He was born about 1836 somewhere in Ireland. He attested for the army in Kilrush, Co Clare in 1853 stating that he was from Tulla in Co Clare but researchers in the area confirm that there were no Rielly, Reilly or any other spelling (with or without the ‘O’) families in that area so “Thanks a bunch Thomas” for leaving me this brick wall.

Thomas served with the 18th Royal Irish Regiment and the Royal Artillery for 21 years. Between 1854 and 1855 he saw service in the Crimea and was at the siege of Sevastopol. There he was awarded the English medal for the Crimea with clasp for Sevastopol and also the Turkish medal for the Crimea. The medals have not survived within the family and I recall my Dad saying that they had probably been pawned by his grandfather

Thomas served with the 18th Royal Irish Regiment and the Royal Artillery for 21 years. Between 1854 and 1855 he saw service in the Crimea and was at the siege of Sevastopol. There he was awarded the English medal for the Crimea with clasp for Sevastopol and also the Turkish medal for the Crimea. The medals have not survived within the family and I recall my Dad saying that they had probably been pawned by his grandfather

After the hell of the Crimea he returned to Ireland and spent a couple of years based in Dublin at Pigeonhouse Fort before being shipped off to India. He was in India between 1857 and 1859 no doubt addressing another aspect of British history, the Indian Mutiny.

Somewhere along the way he married Maria Mooney but I’ve never found out when or where. Tracing Irish marriage records is not easy unless you happen to know which church they married in! I suspect he married while he was in Dublin but there are quite a few churches in Dublin and I’d probably need to spend at least 2 weeks researching in Dublin in order to have a chance of locating the record.

Thomas & Maria’s firstborn was Christopher William, my Gt. Grandfather (see photo), who was born in about 1861 in Madras. Does that make me Indian?

Next came Alfred in about 1866 in Secunderbad and then John in about 1868 somewhere in India.

By 1869 he and his family were back in Ireland and Elizabeth was born in 1869 while he was back at Pigeonhouse Fort followed by Sophia in 1871 when they were based in Athlone. At about that time he seems to have switched regiments again as in Sept 1872 he was serving with the Coast Brigade when he rescued Lizzie McFadden by jumping into the water (the Shannon) and bringing her to the surface. She was ‘insensit’ and he rolled her on the grass to bring her round. For his efforts he was awarded a testimonial on vellum by the Royal Humane Society. The rescue was witnessed and reported by the Horse Guards who received a reward. I hope Thomas received more than a piece of nice paper for his efforts!

In October 1874 he was discharged from the army in Belfast and appears to have relocated to Newcastle on Tyne where Henry was born. By March 1878 he was working as a labourer in Newcastle when Joseph arrived and in the1881 and 1891 census records he was a labourer living in Elswick in Newcastle. In the 1901 census he was a ‘labourer in Elswick Works’ which later became known as Vickers Armstrong – manufacturers of military ordnance.

Thomas’ obituary appeared in the Illustrated Chronicle in Newcastle on 25th Jan 1912,
“Mr Thomas Riley, one of the oldest members of the Northumberland Veterans' Association, died at his residence, 932, Scotswood Road, Newcastle, yesterday, after a brief illness.
Mr Riley had a distinguished military record, having served in the 18th Royal Irish Regiment, and later in the Royal Artillery for a period of over 21 years. He was one of the veterans who were inspected by King George V., when, as Prince of Wales, he visited Newcastle in July 1908.

Mr Riley served throughout the Crimean campaign with the Royal Irish Regiment, and was present at the siege of Sebastopol. He was in possession of the Turkish medal for the Crimea, the medal for long service and good conduct, and also a testimonial from the Royal Humane Society, awarded to him on Jan 16, 1873 for gallantry in saving life.

He was a fine specimen of the Crimean veteran, standing nearly 6 feet high. His photograph was presented to Col. R.O. Kellett and officers of the Royal Irish Regiment by special request some time ago. An enlargement was made and framed with a small tablet attached, setting forth Riley's record of services to his country, and by command of the present commanding officer of the regiment was placed in a prominent place in the regimental institute.

The funeral takes place at Elswick Cemetery on Sunday.” I’ve tried to locate that framed photograph but I suspect it was consigned to the skip when the regimental institute was closed. It certainly never made it to the regimental museum in Ballymena.

Thomas was certainly given a good send off! His coffin was borne through the streets of Newcastle on a gun carriage and he buried with military honours in Elswick.

So this is my one and only link with Ireland and unless there is a minor miracle I suspect it will continue to have that status.

People often assume that with my surname I must be Irish but that really isn’t the case. My Dad was born in Newcastle and his family came from Ireland, India and Somerset; my Mum came from Barnsley but her ancestors came from Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Cornwall. So am I Irish, Indian, Cornish or whatever? I don’t know – but I do know that I’m from the Isle of Wight!

Tales from the past No 2 - Cornelius Delaney

2009-01-01T02:14:00.001-08:00

One of my paternal great great grandmothers, Mary Vaughan, sticks out like a sore thumb on the English census returns, because she was born in Gibraltar. She was married to Thomas Vaughan, born in Ireland about 1827. When I obtained a copy of her Irish marriage certificate, I discovered that she was the daughter of Cornelius Delaney, who was described as a pensioner.

I posted a message to the Delaney message board and to my surprise, got an immediate response from two Australian ladies. Cornelius had gone to Australia in 1850 and I had suddenly acquired lots of Australian relatives.

Cornelius had gone to Tasmania in 1850 as an Enrolled Pensioner Guard on the convict ship Rodney. He was listed as being late of the 94th Regiment of Foot. With this vital piece of information, I engaged a researcher to look for his Army records at Kew.

He had enlisted in 1824 at Borris-in-Ossery, in what was known as Queens County. He was born about 1800 in Aghaboe, which is near Borris. When I visited there in 2005 I found a ruined abbey, a church and 3 houses. The researcher found his record of service and in 1825, the year Mary Vaughan was born, he was in Gibraltar. Searching the parish registers of the only Roman Catholic church in Gibraltar in 1825 (courtesy of the LDS) I found that Mary was the child of Cornelius and Sarah Delaney.

Baptismal entry for Mary Delaney (click to enlarge)

I know nothing else of Sarah and do not know if Delaney was in fact her maiden name. They had a son two years later, but no further trace of him was found. What I know of Army wives at that time is based on reading the Richard Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell. I understand that a battalion was allowed a limited number of “official” wives on foreign service, but there was usually a number of “unofficial” wives. So Cornelus might, or might not, have been married to Sarah.

However, by 1832 he was in Malta and married to Margaret Horan. In 1835, they had a daughter Catherine, born on board ship, offshore Malta. At that time they were on their way to India. Cornelius only served in India for just over a year and in 1836 he was probably back in Ireland. He was in India long enough to get busted from Sgt to Private for being drunk on a bathing parade. Don’t ask.

In 1840 he was discharged on a pension of 6 pence a day because of ill health. He had scurvy and was suffering from arthritis. I don’t know what he did then but the British government maintained Army units of reservists and pensioners to maintain civil order, this was the time of the Irish famine.

In 1850 he sailed to Tasmania on a convict ship. On arriving in Hobart he was appointed as a police constable. This was not unusual for guards. He was granted some land, about 7 acres. After less than a year, he resigned from the police and in 1857 the whole family, plus a new ex-convict son-in-law, sailed to Victoria.

When he arrived in Hobart he had his wife Margaret with him and several daughters. Cornelius and Margaret seem to have had 4 daughters after Mary Vaughan, but I only know of two survivors, Margaret and Catherine. These two ladies produced over 20 children between them, most of them survived and so I have lots of Australian cousins.

Catherine Delaney in Sidney about 1913.

Cornelius lived a long life, dying in 1895 in Hesket, Victoria. When he died he was missing a leg and one eye. Family legend had it that he had been injured in the Crimean War, but he was in Tasmania at the time!

[I gained much information from Cornelius' Australian Death Certificate. He HAD married Sarah in 1819 but the informant didn't know her surname. He married again in about 1823. The certificate listed 5 children, 3 of them alive, one of them my gggmthr in England. The Australian branch obviously knew of her]

Tales from the Past No 3 - Sarah Stapleton

2009-01-01T01:17:00.000-08:00

My grea-grandmother, Sarah Stapleton, lived a hand-to-mouth existence typical of that of many women of the time, but she must have been a toughie, as she managed to survive to the age of 75.

She was born on 7 Novemeber 1837, the daughter of William and Ann of Norwood, St Mellion, and was baptised in the village church. It's possible that the Rector mis-recorded the name of her father, as she appears in the 1841 Census with a couple called John and Ann. He was no different to most of the rest of my ancestors, being recorded as an 'Agri Lab', but by 1851 he had become a delightfully-named 'Poper'(so much better than the correct spelling). He died in December 1856, aged 65, and was buried at the Parish Church.

Sarah continued to live at Norwood and in 1861 she was with her widowed mother and older sister in the next household to her future in-laws, who were living at Thrustles Nest which was also near Amy Tree in St Mellion. Her mother died the following year, by which time Sarah had given birth to her son, Lewis. His father is unknown, but he lived with my great-grandparents, Stephen and Sarah Barrett, as their son for several years. There might be a clue in the fact that he was baptised in South Hill on 12 May 1861, at which time Stephen was a carter for the Symons family in that Parish. The couple must have known each other since childhood.

Stephen had grown up at Thrustles Nest, which is now in ruin. The small cottage(s) must have been both isolated and over-crowded, as two large families lived there for several years.

Sarah married Stephen at Liskeard Register Office on 15 August 1863, at which time she was living as a domestic servant at Cadson, near Callington. It's likely that a church wedding had been refused!

The marriage lasted under 16 years, during which time the growing family moved to Todsworthy in Calstock, home to several agricultural labourers and where Stephen died of pneumonia in March 1879. Sarah was left with a young family including my grandfather, William, aged just two. It's hardly surprising that some of the children moved away. Son Lewis went 'up country' (could mean anything to a Cornishman!) and his brother John ('Jack') ended up in Negaunee, Michigan, along with many other Cornishmen and where he died in a mine accident in 1914. He had survived his mother by less than a year, as Sarah died on 1 May 1913.

John had remained in contact with his family and they received photographs of his children and ultimately his grave, presumably sent by his wife, Mary Louisa, who survived until 1945.

Between the death of her husband and her own, Sarah moved to wherever a member of her family could find work, including living briefly in Plymouth. However, she had returned to Albaston, of which Todsworthy forms a part, by 1909 and was one of the first recipients of the five shillings a week Old Age Pension. (Photograph attached, Sarah is seated second from left. Click to enlarge)

I wonder what she'd think of her great-grand-daughter's comparatively easy life?

Tales from the past No 1- William McCormick

2008-12-31T23:39:00.001-08:00

Tales from the Past No 1

My grandfather, William McCormick, was born in 1882 in the Birmingham slum of Bordesley. The family lived in a court house. These houses were in groups of ten or so, situated round a courtyard that had communal washing and toilet facilities. Often the houses were divided into front and back, doubling up the number of households. The McCormicks had arrived in Bordesley about 1845 from Ireland and they were mostly brickyard labourers. The poorest of the poor.

The family were Roman Catholic but in the 1880s they seemed to switch to the Church of England for marriages, although William’s father, Samuel McCormick, was married in an RC church. William died in 1956, aged 73. He had a Roman Catholic funeral but it was until I started researching my family’s history that I realised we had been Catholics!

In 1899 William joined the Army, enlisting in the Lancashire Fusiliers. Why he joined this regiment rather than the local one, the Royal Warwicks, I don’t know.

His enlistment document describes him as age 18 yrs 3 months, fresh complexion, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 121 pounds in weight. In passing I might mention that when I joined the RAF in 56 years later I was 5 feet 6 inches and 126 lbs in weight. And I had a very fresh complexion and looked about 16.

William had joined in the run up to the Boer War and in January 1902 he arrived in Capetown. His battalion was incorporated into the 28th Mounted Infantry Brigade. He was 18 years old when he joined; a small man from the slums. I don’t suppose he had ridden a horse before and I doubt he had ever fired a gun. But at the age of 20 he was riding across the veldt hunting down Boer guerrillas – a very dangerous business. Mounted infantry rode to battle, dismounting and fighting as infantry when they got there.

By 1905 he was out of the Army, but still a reservist. He got married in Dec 1905 and the first of 4 children was born in 1906. My father was born in 1909.

At the start of World War I he was mobilised and sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force. He was badly wounded at a place called Ploegsteert Wood in November 1914 and sent back to England. Ploegsteert is in Flanders and the scene of heavy fighting in 1914.

He remained in the Lancashire Fusiliers and was a sergeant by November 1915. In August 1916 he transferred to the Royal Engineers and was sent back to France. He was finally demobilised in February 1919.

During the inter-war years he was a painter and decorator. During the 2nd World War he was in the Home Guard. At the end of the war he was a Sgt in the HG, aged 60.

I remember him as a squat old man with thinning hair. He had a strong Brummie accent and a twinkle in his eye. He was very fond of beer but didn’t get drunk. I last saw him at his Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1955 and he looked just like he always did. I spent quite a lot of time that evening trundling back and forth to the off licence for large jugs of beer!

Blog dead in the water!

2008-11-12T05:37:00.000-08:00

Hello folks

There have been no posts recently because I injured my right shoulder. Difficult to type and in any case, I get very short-tempered these days! However, it slowly improves (my shoulder not my temper) and I hope to write some more soon.

As the census project is now complete and I have retired from Free Census, I intend to change the content of the blog somewhat. It is my personal blog not strictly speaking part of the COCP or NWOCP.

Rgds

Michael

Tithe maps

2008-06-20T01:12:00.000-07:00

When I started out in this business, one of my first tasks was to copy the local Tithe maps. I spent many happy hours copying them in County Records; quite a complicated task, as my village sits at the junction of four parishes.

In 1836 it was decided that the owners and tenants of land could buy out the Church tithes. To do this, it was necessary to work out a fair price. Local surveyors were engaged to wander round the countryside, mapping the fields. Their sizes would be worked out and a price given. The maps are interesting, not least because it makes you realise how little the countryside has changed in Cornwall. I would say that most of the field boundaries round Mitchell look much like they did 168 years ago.

The maps are attached to an Apportionment Roll. This records who owned the land, and if rented, the names of the tenants. It is handy to compare this with the 1841 census returns because the 1841 is a bit short on address details. The Roll also records the size of each field and the rent assigned to it. More interestingly from a family history point of view, it gives the names of the fields. In Mitchell there were several fields named Kneebone, but there were no families of the name that I know of in and around the village. Other fields had names that gave clues to the past, Chapel Close suggested the site of a long lost chapel. Fair Park pointed out where the annual fair was held. Just what Puzzling Chain means I don’t know.

There were three copies of each map. One was handed to the parish and is now probably in County Records. One went to the church, and that is also probably in CRO. The third was sent to London and is now at Kew.

As I said at the start, copying these maps was one of my first projects in my study of the village of Mitchell. This was in 1995 and illustrates how far we have come since then. Nowadays, the CRO photographs them and sells them on disc.

The maps are very large; one of them was 12 feet by 12 feet. To copy them by hand involved placing an A4 acetate sheet on the map with a piece of tracing paper on top. Only pencil could be used and the acetate stopped indentations on the map. Using this method resulted in a pile of tracing paper sheets, all carefully labelled.

Arriving home, I then reversed the process. The tracings were retraced onto acetate sheets with a felt tip pen. Each acetate sheet was taped on the monitor and using the mouse, I traced the field outlines using an Apple application called MacDraw - long gone! I then joined all the sheets together, having carefully gone in for some overlap. Luckily, the long ago surveyors seemed to have gone in for straight edges to the fields.

On the maps were all buildings; dwellings and other sorts. The Roll also gave the type of farming; arable, pasture, woods, furze etc. So I built up layers; you could easily see which farmer owned which land and where all the furze was! Quite important - furze. One of the complications in the project was that of the four parishes; one, the most important one at that, had a different scale to the other three.

I am afraid that these maps have vanished somewhere between computers. However, they haven’t quite vanished, because I printed them out and they hang on the stairway walls. I don’t know how many hours I spent on them, but perhaps as I return to studying Mitchell and its history, they will come back into use.

The English Parish Registers

2008-06-07T04:23:00.000-07:00

While I slave away over a hot computer - Mrs McCormick quilts away!

The development of the English Parish Registers took place during times of turmoil in England. There was the Reformation, which established the Church of England. Then we had a civil war, which ended with the beheading of the King. We then tried out a Commonweath and after that we restored the Monarchy. As with the poor laws, there was a constant stream of acts of Parliament attempting to make everyone follow the rules.

In 1538 the government ordered that all parish priests should record all marriages, christenings and burials in their parishes. These records were to be kept under lock and key, with one key held by the priest and the other by the Church Wardens. There was a penalty of 3s 4d for failing to do so.

In 1598 it was ordered that the records, previously mainly on loose pieces of paper, were to be recorded on parchment in books. All records previous to 1538 were to be copied into the new books. Conditions being what they were, many of the register pages were missing, or damaged by damp, insects or rodents. Also, a later order emphasised that particular attention was to be paid to records after the coronation of Queen Elizabeth I. Some priests interpreted this to mean that only records after 1558 should be copied. In 1598 it was required that an annual return should be made to the relevant Bishop within a month of Easter.

In 1563 the Roman Catholic Church ordered the keeping of registers of baptisms and burials. In 1645 it was empathised that baptisms should record the date of birth and the names of parents. In the mid-17th century there were changes following the civil war. These were superseded by the restoration of the Monarchy. In 1755 it was ordered that Banns of Marriage should be recorded. In 1812 it was required that each parish purchase a parish chest to store the registers and many other types of documents in safe and secure conditions.

Before 1538, the Roman Catholic Church was developing a system of parish registers. As early as 1497 instructions were issued in Spain that all baptisms were to be recorded. I have no idea if any such records exist. Perhaps deep in the vaults in the Vatican there are treasures yet to be found.

This information is taken mainly from “The Parish Chest” by W.E. Tate.

COCP update

2008-06-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

Afternoon walk near Mitchell (Medeschole)

The 1871 is finished and uploaded and there are only 5 pieces of the 1881 left to do. Won’t be long now.

As you know, my own intention is to concentrate on my own family history (dead-in-the-water for 8 years) and the history of the village I live in. As a vital part of the latter I intend to transcribe the parish registers and upload them to our sister project – C-PROP.

The deal with C-PROP is the same as the one with the census returns. In return for loaning us the filmed registers on disc, the LDS will get a transcript. We have standardised spreadsheets to transcribe the data to and there will be advice on this blog and by email. If possible, I will email you the images rather than posting a disc. This is a single-pass project – no checking involved.

C-PROP is a daughter project of the OPC scheme. Although I was involved in the conception of both, I don’t run either. Allocation of discs gives priority to OPCs, most of whom want to transcribe their parish themselves. Therefore, I have access to a limited number of discs. This makes it difficult to satisfy people who have interests in one parish rather than Cornwall as a whole. In many ways it might be better for volunteers to contact Myra Cordrey the OPC co-ord directly; or write to the relevant OPC offering to help. If, however, you would prefer to work with and through me, then let me know.

The LDS wants all of each film transcribed; but C-PROP will only upload data up to 1908. Personally, I don’t mind a slight overlap but I have no interest in working for the LDS. I will not, therefore, be supplying 20th century discs. If you want to work on a particular parish, let me know and I will ask.

So – you have a number of choices. Wave goodbye! Write to Myra or the OPC of your choice. Transcribe from a disc supplied by me. Be a checker for Wiltshire (which I also run). Take a break and keep in touch.

Cornwall Online Census Project update

2008-05-01T02:17:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

Here we - the final push! There are now 16 pieces of the 71 & 81 left to complete. They are as follows:

1871:
2240 being checked by Donna Hazledon
2296 being checked by Barbara Pullar
2331 being transcribed by Celia Wikert; to be checked by Maxine Cadzow

1881:
2274 being checked by Bernie Currie
2275 being checked by David Trounce
2304 being checked by Frances Kenshole
2308 being checked by Geoff Westlake
2329 being checked by Valeri Pain
2331 being checked by Di Thompson
2332 being checked by Marion Paul
2333 being checked by Malcolm Rule
2337 being checked by John Smith
2340 being checked by Jeff Beaton
2342 being checked by Peter Veryan
2343 being checked by Roda Jelbert
2352 being checked by Valerie Pettifer

If you have a problem with any of these allocations; please drop me a line.

Rgds

Michael

Happy Birthday

2008-04-23T06:35:00.000-07:00

Today is St George's Day; Happy Birthday St George!!!!!

As I live in Cornwall and have a Cornish wife, it would seem a bit churlish of me to fly the flag of St George, today or any day. Nor do I have an English sticker on my car. Although, if we lived in England, I expect we would have a Cornish flag stuck to the back somewhere. Next to the Apple sticker I expect.

Although I am Anglo-Irish, I think of myself as English. I am rather proud of being English. We hear a lot these days about "Englishness"; mainly because our Scottish Prime Minister feels rather insecure. As he should of course. In my opinion, the main characteristics of the English are tolerance and adaptability. Traits that we have exported to the daughter nations of the English, including the United States of America. Whose constitution was written by a bunch of Englishmen!

My wife, my Cornish wife, has no problem in being Cornish, English and British. This is as it should be - they are all part of her heritage. I, on the other hand, just feel English. I know I am British as well, but increasingly, I don't feel very bothered about that part of my heritage. I think this is because if anyone can be British, then there is less point to it. In part this is because as the Scots, Welsh and so on become semi-independent, like many English, I don't feel resentful, just happy for them. Off you go, I think, been nice knowing you!

So - Happy Birthday to St George, from a typically confused Englishman.

Researching Cornish family history online

2008-04-13T04:46:00.000-07:00

The three basic tools of Cornish family history research are the Registers of Births, Marriages & Deaths, the census returns, and the parish registers.

The indexes for Cornish BMD are to be found in the national indexing project, FreeBMD. From these you will learn which quarter an event was registered in. In many cases this information will be all you need but the web site leads you to the government agency that sells copies of the original documents. Perhaps you will only need a few vital certificates to help build your family tree, because they are quite expensive.

The census returns are available for free on FreeCEN and on the COCP web site. Nearly all the Cornish 19th century returns are now online, and all should be online by the end of this year. The COCP pages will contain all the people enumerated in Cornwall between 1841 and 1891. You can download all you want, turn the data into spreadsheets and manipulate it to your heart’s content - even read them in the bath!

The census returns start in 1841 and the BMD indexes in 1837. Further back than that you have to rely on the parish registers. In theory, these started in the early 16th century, but many of the early years have not survived. Some of these registers may appear on the national indexing project - FreeREG. However, in Cornwall we are lucky in having our own parish register project - C-PROP. This database is also free and also contains other data than just the parish registers.

C-PROP is the daughter project of the Cornish Online Parish Scheme. There are now about a dozen of these OPC schemes in England now, but the Cornish one was the first to start and the others are modeled on it. Many of the OPC have their own web sites and many of them contain transcripts of parish registers and other things. Good examples of what can be found are on the sites for St Austell and Gerrans.

The main newspaper in Cornwall today is the West Briton. The WB started early in the 19th century and there is an ongoing project to transcribe the interesting bits and place them online. In addition, the hatches, matches and dispatches are also being added to the C-PROP pile.

Finally, the whole Cornish scene is bound together by the Cornish pages of GENUKI. Anyone who is researching in the UK outside Cornwall will soon realise that the Cornish GENUKI pages are in a class of their own. There are links to the main GENUKI pages and to just about everything Cornish.

[No URL are given; all web sites can be found easily with Google]

Free Tibet!!!!!

NWOCP 1861 & 1871 update

2008-04-12T02:43:00.000-07:00

FREE TIBET!!!!!

Hello folks

This is the current state of the NWOCP 1861 & 1871 projects.

Nth Wilts 1861

1272 Swindon being checked by Phil Pike
1274 Cricklade being transcribed by Sue Flower
1280 Castle Combe being transcribed by Marlene Bond
1285 Christian Malford being checked by Ray Muld
1286 Calne being checked by Paul Webb

Nth Wilts 1871

1881 Swindon being checked by Steve Brain
1883 Swindon being checked by Helen Ward
1884 Wootton Bassett being transcribed by Jane Brown
1891 Malmesbury West being transcribed by Nancy Frey
1895 Castle Combe being transcribed by Harry Tadd
1896 Corsham being checked by Heather Williams
1897 Corsham being checked by John Holden
1900 Christian Malford being checked by Valerie Henwood
1906 Marlborough being checked by Edmund Bristow

In addition, there are 7 pieces transcribed and ready for checking. 12 pieces of the 1861 are online as are 19 pieces of the 1871.

NWOCP 1841 update

2008-04-10T01:44:00.000-07:00

Free Tibet!!!!

When the NWOCP started just over two years ago, the intention was to do all six sets of the 19th century Wiltshire census returns for North Wiltshire. Nth Wilts was defined as a line Calne-Marlborough and all places north. Because the 1841 was going so well, its cover was extended to the whole county. However, I have run out of steam, and the NWOCP will finish the 1841 and the Nth Wilts 61 & 71 returns and then expire!

Free Census Wiltshire will continue under the leadership of Terry Waters-Marsh, and indeed, some NWOCP transcribers have already started work on South Wiltshire 1871 pieces.

The NWOCP 1841 project is nearly complete. The following parishes are still being worked on.

Monckton Deverill Ho4e1173 being transcribed by William Glynn
Christian Malford Ho4f1173 to be transcribed by Pat Mahoney
St Michael Kington Ho4g1173 to be transcribed by Pat Mahoney
Foxley Ho4j1181 to be transcribed by Pat Mahoney
Gardson Ho4k1181 to be transcribed by Pat Mahoney
Hankerton Ho4l1181 being transcribed by Pat Mahoney
Hullavington Ho4m1181 transcribed, being checked by John Pope
Sutton Benger Ho4y1181 transcribed to be checked by John Pope

Melksham Ho4b1182 being transcribed by Shauna Wall
Poulshot Ho4e1182 to be transcribed by Shauna Wall

Mere Ho4d1183 being checked by Keith Salisbury
Mere - Woodlands Ho4e1183 to be checked by Carol Patis
Mere - Zeals Ho4f1183 to be checked by Carol Patis
Stourton Ho4g1183 to be checked by Carol Patis
WestburyHo4a1188 being transcribed by Mike Wells
Marlborough St Mary the Virgin Ho4d1189 being checked by Carol Patis

The future of the COCP

2008-04-06T04:43:00.000-07:00

Mrs McCormick enjoying her Christmas break in Germany

Hello folks

Nothing to do with census returns!

I have just polished off another two pieces, so we now have:

Two 1871 pieces with transcribers and five with checkers. Plus 19 pieces of the 1881 with checkers. Could be less than 3 months work!

My thoughts have been turning to what I might do next. And what you might do next as well.

Many of you have been with me for several years now, one or two since the beginning of the project nearly 8 years ago. I would quite like to keep our team in being.

It has been suggested that we should take on the Cornish 1901. One chap even suggested the 1911! But I have had enough of census returns. And in any case, it will take a year or two to get the ones we have done sorted out properly. If any of you fancy running a COCP 1901 project, let me know; I will be happy to offer advice. And I am happy to try and persuade you all to help out.

I have decided that I shall return to my starting point, researching the very small Cornish village I live in plus reviving my own family history. For the Mitchell project I want to transcribe the parish registers. I shall give them, when I have done them, to the COCP sister project - C-PROP.

I wonder if any of you would care to stick with me and switch to C-PROP? The parish registers are not checked or validated, just transcribed. It is the same deal - LDS discs are provided plus the required spreadsheets. You might be able to get a parish that you are particularly interested in. You might not. C-PROP also requires data-inputters; at the moment for the Phillimore indexes, but I am sure there will be more of that. The parish registers are, I think, more interesting than the census returns and those before 1700 are harder to transcribe.

If you don't fancy this; then I am still in need of census checkers for the Nth Wiltshire project. This project is about to finish the final few parishes of the Wiltshire 1841 and then there are just a few 1861 & 71 pieces to check. Then I am out of that as well.

Of course, you might have ideas of your own and you can, therefore, just wave me goodbye and get on with it. You might have suggestions to make.

Anyway, in spite of my optimism, we still have some work to do. Plenty of time to decide on what to do next. But I thought I would let you know how I was thinking.

Rgds

Michael

Free Census & Global Warning

2008-03-30T02:51:00.001-07:00

Of course, there is no connection between Free Census and Global Warning. As far as I know. And assuming that the globe is getting warmer. This is a picture of Ella taken a few weeks ago in Ottawa, where they have had more snow this winter than they have had since 1970/1. Ella is wondering how she can visit her grandmother - my sister.

Here is the current state of the 1871 & 1881 Cornish projects. As you can see, we are within striking distance of finishing. Two pieces are with transcribers but all the rest are being checked. If every checker finished tomorrow, we could be home and free by the end of the week. Well - not quite, but you know what I mean I am sure.

1871:

2234 Callington St Ive being checked by Maxine Cadzow
2236 Liskeard Menheniot being checked by Jeff Beaton
2240 Liskeard St Neot being checked by Donna Hazledon
2254 Padstow Little Petherick being checked by Pam Pinkerton
2289 Kea Feock being transcribed by Caroline Buckland
2296 Falmouth St Gluvias being checked by Barbara Pullar
2316 Redruth being checked by Judy Waddell
2324 Camborne. Being checked by Althea Johnson
2331 Uny Lelant Ludgvan being transcribed by Celia Wikert

1881:

2274 Altarnun being checked by Bernie Currie
2275 Nth Petherwin being checked by George Bishop
2281 St Germans being checked by John Ball
2299 Fowey being checked by Jan Lewis
2304 Mevagissey being checked by Tony Harris
2308 St Agnes being checked by Geoff Westlake
2328 Gwennap being checked by Tony Bennett
2329 Gwennap being checked by Valeri Pain
2331 Redruth Being checked by Di Thompson
2332 Redruth being checked by Marion Paul
2333 Redruth being checked by Malcolm Rule
2335 Camborne being checked by Mike Beck
2337 Phillack being checked by John Smith
2340 Uny Lelant being checked by Margaret Moxon
2341 St Ives being checked by Julia Mays
2342 St Ives being checked by Peter Veryan
2343 St Ives being checked by Roda Jelbert
2351 St Buryan being checked by Valerie Pettifer
2352 Scillies to be checked by Valeri Pettifer

How I forgot to do any census returns

2008-03-10T00:18:00.001-07:00

"I was recently diagnosed with AAADD - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests itself:

I decide to water my plants in the front garden. As I go to turn on the hose I look over at my car and decide it needs washing. I go to get the car keys from the entrance and then notice the delivered mail on the entrance table. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I put my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the bin under the table, and notice that the bin is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the rubbish first. But then I think, I can run down to the post-box when I take out the rubbish, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my cheque book off the table, and see that there is only 1 cheque left. My other cheque book is in the computer desk, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke I'd been drinking. I'm going to look for my other cheque book, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. The Coke is getting warm so I decide to put it in the fridge to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the window ledge catches my eye--they need water. I put the Coke on the window ledge and discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I’d better put them back on my computer desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers. I put the glasses back down on the window ledge, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. I must have left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when I go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the living room where it belongs, but first I'll  water the flowers. I pour some water in the flowers, but some spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back on the table, get a towel and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do. At the end of the day: The flower tubs aren't watered; The car isn't washed; The bills aren't paid; There is a warm can of Coke sitting on the window ledge; The flowers in the vase don't have enough water; There is still only 1 cheque in my cheque book; I can't find the remote; I can't find my glasses; I have absolutely NO idea what I did with the car keys. Then, when I try to work out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I'm really tired. I realise this is a serious problem and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail. Do me a favour. Forward this message to everyone I know, because I don't remember who the hell I've sent it to."

Validation

2008-03-06T23:35:00.000-08:00

In the original plan, Validation was the third and final stage. However, it is in fact the penultimate stage and is followed by post-validation. This note covers both.

When a corrected zip arrives back, I load it into Valdrev, and run it against the images. Unlike checking, I do not have to view every line, but only those on which Valdrev stops.

This is the Valdrev screen. Any field that is changed by the checker turns red. Checkers do NOT, therefore, need to leave me a note or a flag, just to say they have changed something.

Valdrev stops for:

1. Alerts, either inserted by the checker, or inserted by the transcriber and not resolved by the checker.

2. Records that have notes left by the transcriber or the checker, but not those contained in the transcriber’s Mynotes file. I do not see those, although Valdrev does stop.

3. County or place of birth names that do not exist as far as the geographical database GENIE is concerned.

From this you can see that if the transcriber leaves lots of notes, I get lots of stops. During validation I edit the notes left by transcribers. Usually, I delete them, but sometimes I retain them, edit them or add to them or insert new ones – as the fancy takes me! If Chapman codes for the Irish or Scottish counties have not been used, I get stops on all those. In the original plan, it was thought that the validation process would be pretty quick, with stops every hundred or so records. Like many things, this didn’t work out and stops are only too frequent.

The main problem is that the geographical database GENIE is limited in size and it doesn’t hold many perfectly good place names. In general, I pass all place names that are “as is”. I do not avail myself of the validater’s option to put in the modern or corrected names. As I go along, I create a supplementary list of place names, ones that I am happy about that are not on the database. This reduces the number of stops I get

At the end of this process, I pack for uploading; in theory, this output file could be uploaded. But in practice, we know that there are a lot of errors still in the file, invisible during validation. The file is, therefore, loaded into FCTools. This is a diagnostic tool that identifies errors and gives warnings of possible problems.

FCTools produces a list of errors and a spreadsheet. As well as making the corrections indicated by FCTools, the opportunity its taken to “eyeball” the spreadsheet. It is surprising how many minor errors jump out and hit you in the eye! Once it as good as it can be, two files are produced. The validation file is uploaded to the Online DataBase (OLDB) and to the Mormon’s Great Granite Cave in Utah. The html file is sent to our web site.

Really - it's quite easy!

2008-03-05T23:43:00.000-08:00

The task we have set ourselves is really quite simple. We just have to transcribe as accurately as we can the words of the Enumerator.

Of course, it is all made more complicated by the requirements of Free Census, and indeed, by those of the author of this blog.

Still, in the end, it is pretty simple. Transcribe the words of the Enumerator, warts and all, into the spreadsheet. If he misspells Scholar, then so do you. If he has a 19-year old Scholar, then you will have to input (Scholar), but his words are intact.

I find that the biggest aid I have is Google (or the search engine of your choice). If the Enumerator has written down a place name unknown to the Free Census software, or me, I usually type it into Google. Of course, knowing the correct version doesn’t mean that I don’t type in the Enumerator’s version. But just knowing that there is a “real” place spelt somewhat differently is an aid to reading the words on the page.

I also use Google for personal names and occupations. Google will search our online texts; in fact we often figure in the first ten hits it reports. So, if we have already transcribed a person, or an occupation, or a place, then it will come up. There are, of course, other aids. The IGI is online for free. You can confine your search to the parish you are working on. If you are working on a Cornish piece, you can use the COCP search engine. You can browse our online texts, the enumerators often used the same route for each census, and English and Cornish place names have remained the same for centuries.

It also helps if you read what you are writing. The numbers of times I find miss-transcriptions, when the transcriber or checker has got it correct only a page or so earlier.

Finally, you have one aid I don’t have. ME! I am quite happy for people to write to me and I will take a look at the image for you and give a second opinion. I can also download an image from Ancestry and email it to you. We also have an instant messaging system up and running. Instructions on how to access that can be given and are also on this blog. You might get an answer in minutes using either of these methods. I would rather correct things as you do them than have to do them in the final stages.

The picture at at the top was sent in by a volunteer living in Tasmania - it illustrates that she has other interests than my wretched census returns!!!!

COCP 1871 update

2008-02-28T23:35:00.000-08:00

hello folks

Things are going well on the 1871, with only 12 pieces left to do. Two pieces are with me, awaiting validation.

2234 being transcribed by Lesley Van Goeson & Lauren Patey
2236 Menheniot being checked by Jeff Beaton
2340 St Neot being checked by Donna Hazledon
2254 Little Petherwick being checked by Pam Pinkerton
2255 St Columb Major being checked by Judy Wadell
2289 Feock being transcribed by Shari Nicholls
2291 Mylor being checked by Roda Jelbert
2296 St Gluvias being checked by Barbara Pullar
2306 St Keverne being checked by Sharon Uren
2316 Redruth being transcribed by Janet Copping
2324 Camborne to be checked by Donna Hazledon
2331 Ludgvan being transcribed by Samantha Hussey

A slight pall is thrown over these excellent results by the fact that a few of you are out of contact with Kay and I. We will re-allocate pieces if we don't hear from you. If you have been working hard then it will all have been wasted.

Rgds

Michael

COCP 1881 update

2008-02-25T02:23:00.000-08:00

Hello folks

Much to my surprise, I find that we have only 25 pieces of the 1881 left to complete. They are as follows:

2270 Stratton probably unallocated.
2271 Week St Mary being checked by Mike Hancock
2274 Altarnun being checked by Geoff Moss
2275 Nth Petherwin not allocated
2276 Launceston St Stephen being checked by David Trounce
2281 St Germans being checked by John Ball
2299 Fowey being checked by Jan Lewis
2304 Mevagissey not allocated
2308 St Agnes being checked by Geoff Westlake
2328 Gwennap being checked by Tony Bennett
2329 Gwennap being checked by Valeri Pain
2331 Redruth Being checked by Di Thompson
2332 Redruth being checked by Marion Paul
2333 Redruth pencilled in for checking by Marion Paul
2335 Camborne being checked by Mike Beck
2337 Phillack being checked by John Smith
2338 Phillack being checked by Malcolm Rule
2339 Penzance being checked by Frances Kenshole
2340 Uny Lelant being checked by Margaret Moxon
2341 St Ives being checked by Julia Mays
2342 St Ives being checked by Peter Veryan
2343 St Ives pencilled in for checking by Peter Veryan
2351 St Buryan being checked by Valerie Pettifer
2352 Scillies pencilled in for checking by Valeri Pettifer

If you don't agree with this, please drop me a line. In fact, please drop me a line anyway!

NWOCP 1861 & 1871 update

2008-02-22T04:40:00.001-08:00

Hello folks

Here is the situation as I see it:

Phil Pike Checking rg091272 Swindon
Sue Flower Transcribing rg091274 Cricklade
Marlene Bond Transcribing rg091280 Castle Conmbe
Paul Webb Checking rg091282 Corsham
Ray Muld Checking rg091283 Chippenham
Steve Brain Checking rg101881 Swindon
Jane Brown Transcribing rg091286 Calne and/or rg101884 Wootton Bassett
Lilian Fraser Transcribing rg101909
Nancy Frey Transcribing rg101891 Malmesbury West
Heather Williams Checking rg101896 Corsham
Valerie Henwood Checking rg101900 Christian Malford
John Holden Checking rg101897 Corsham
Edmund Bristow Checking rg101906 Marlborough
Viveanne Transcribing rg101903(1)
Helen Ward Checking rg101883 Swindon
Lillian Thurston Transcribing rg101908
Harry Tadd Transcribing rg101895 Castle Combe
Peter Eastman Transcribing rg101910

If you don't agree with this - drop me a line!

NWOCP 1841 Update

2008-02-18T04:02:00.000-08:00

Transcribers:

Peter Eastman
Ho4g1172 Langley Burrell

William Glynn
Ho4d1173 Martin
Ho4e1173 Moncton Deaverill
Ho4f1173 Christian Malford
Ho4g1173 St Michael Kington

Peter Eastman
Ho4d1174 East Knoyle

Marlenny Cunnigham
Ho4j1181 Foxley
Ho4k1181 Gardson
Ho4l1181 Hankerton
Ho4m1181 Hullavington
Ho4n1181 Kemble
Ho4o1181 Lea

Shauna Wall
Ho4b1182 Hilperton
Ho4c1182 Keevil
Ho4d1182 Melksham
Ho4e1182 Poulshot

Diann Barnett
Ho4d1186 Huish
Ho4e1186 Imber

Helen Cameron
Ho4c118 North Bradley

Mike Wells
Ho4a1188 Westbury
Ho4d1188 East Coulston
Ho4e1188 Edington
Ho4f1188 Keevil

Checkers

Carol Patis Ho41189 (a-e)
Keith Salisbury Ho41183 (d-g)
John Pope - the rest!!!!!

All of the remaining parishes are transcribed and waiting to be checked. Or are being checked.

COCP update

2008-02-08T01:37:00.002-08:00

Hello folks

I have rather neglected this for some time now. Since the 1st January, we have completed another 17 1871 & 1881 pieces. About half of them have been uploaded. The remaining 1871 pieces are so:

2217 Week St Mary Poundstock being checked by Kay
2228 Anthony Maker being checked by Roda Jelbert(SA)
2234 Callington St Ive being transcribed by Lesley Van Goeson (Aus)
2236 Liskeard Menheniot being checked by Jeff Beaton (Aus)
2240 Liskeard St Neot being checked by Donna Hazledon (Can). To do 2324 after this.
2254 Padstow Little Petherick being checked by Pam Pinkerton. (Aus)
2255 St Columb Major being checked by Judy Wadell(Aus)
2289 Kea Feock being transcribed by Shari Nicholls (USA).
2291 Mylor being checked by Chris Uphill (Aus).
2296 Falmouth St Gluvias being checked by Barbara Pullar (NZ)
2306 St Keverne being checked by Sharon Uren (Aus)
2316 Redruth being transcribed by Ceilia Wikert(USA)
2324 Camborne. To be checked by Donna Hazledon after she finishes 2240.
2331 Uny Lelant Ludgvan being transcribed by Samantha Hussey.
2339 Penzance Paul being checked by Maxine Cadzow(Aus)
2341 Penzance. Being checked by Mike Hancock.(UK)

A couple of weeks ago I asked everyone who has not been in touch in 2008 to drop me a line. Some of you have yet to do that. Please lighten my darkness!

The project will have been running for 8 years in June this year. I mention that because an Australian name John Nance is retiring from the project for reasons of health. John was the 202nd volunteer we recruited and he started work in December 2002. He has spent most of his spare time during the last five years checking returns for COCP. Kay and I get our names up on the web site as organisers but without people like John the whole thing would be dead in the water. John's work has been consistently good - I never checked what he was doing. He was also different in that he used the IGI as a checking aid.

For the first time in a very long time I have cleared the Cornish backlog! However, a Wiltshire 1841 piece has arrived - still it's only 11,500 records.....

Rgds Michael

Democracy - rant by blog owner!

2007-10-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

Democracy is a funny thing. Wildly popular, but not all that common. If you want a definition, then hop over to Wikipedia. The word is Greek in origin and means, roughly, rule by the people. Of course, in Ancient Greece, people were the free men. Two thirds of the population were women or slaves, and they didn't get to vote.

Generally speaking nowadays, we think it means "one man one vote". Or "one woman one vote". But in my opinion, this needs a caveat. There has to be an alternative bunch of people who could also form a government. In the UK the government could be run over by a bus and the opposition would be there to take over. Excellent!

Why am I rabbiting on about democracy? Well, democracy in the UK has taken, and is taking, a big hit. The Scottish government in London is handing the UK over to the French government in Brussels. I am rather biased about this I am afraid. I would rather there was an English government in London and a Cornish one in Truro. I don't want to rule the French and I don't want them ruling us. I feel much the same about the Scots.

Democracy in England is not quite as old as democracy in Ancient Athens, but it has been around for a long time. The Anglo-Saxons came to power in much of England about AD600. They elected their kings. Of course, I am not suggested that this was democracy as we know it - a big sword or a large axe was pretty handy in elections. But there was no divine right to be king. This was introduced later on by the Church. What about the Normans you say. Well, they mainly just adapted their system to the Anglo-Saxon one. Most of the Anglo-Saxon system just carried with a different top layer.

So it wasn't all that long after 1066 that parliament arrived. Because the Normans (Norsemen) were also fairly democratic. Since about the 12th century, the parliamentary system moved forward, quite a few hiccups, but it did not fail us.

Now our Scottish Prime Minister is handing us over to the European Union. The EU has one man one vote to elect people to the European Parliament but they have limited powers over the real rulers, the Council of Ministers and the EU Commission. Nor are these people drawn from the parliament. The government is separate from the parliament and there is no handy alternative government around.

Nor is the government elected. Of course, the Council of Ministers are all elected - but not as such. Our Prime Minister is not elected because he is on the Council of Ministers.

My forecast for the present UK government is that they will lose the next election. They will lose it because they are not trusted. So, the handy opposition party takes over as government. But it will make NO difference. The real government, the French one in Brussels, will just sail on. They cannot be removed by the voters.

Before the present treaty comes into force, it is said that 80% of our laws are made in Brussels. EU law outranks UK law. We are about to lose our veto over another 40 or 60 (depends who you listen to) areas .

The UK will then be a province of the new European Empire. Perhaps it will all turn out alright. But if it doesn't, things might get nasty!

Occasional notes No 5 - Copyright

2007-10-18T03:22:00.001-07:00

Our basic philosophy is that our transcripts belong to everyone and to no one. Recently, the question of copyright has reared its head again.

If you ask ten experts then you will get ten opinions. So the question of copyright in family history is shrouded in confusion but as far as I know, no one has been prosecuted for breach of copyright in the field of family history. Here is my take on the situation with regard to the UK 19th century census returns.

The Crown has copyright of the UK census returns; this is vested in The National Archives (TNA). The Crown has waived its copyright in the contents of the returns but not in the images. TNA has obviously sold licences to reproduce the images to people like ACDB and Ancestry. Anyone who has transcribed the returns holds the copyright in that transcription - it is theirs. As a collective group, COCP & NWOCP hold the copyright in the completed transcriptions, that is those that have been through our procedures. Legally or not, I hold this copyright on behalf of the volunteers of those projects. The only obligation levied on us by TNA is that we acknowledge that the copyright remains with them in the name of The Crown.

Because we post our completed transcriptions as texts on our web sites, anyone can download them. We have a copyright statement but it is primarily there to try and discourage wholesale copying for commercial purposes. As far as we know, no one has been tempted to do this. We are quite happy for people to download what they need. In addition, completed years are cut to disc and distributed to national and other institutions interested in our areas. We are only bound to supply copies to TNA and the LDS, but the discs go to about 15 institutions.

We are quite happy for people to cut and paste sections into emails or to chat forums. We only ask that you acknowledge where the information comes from.

As I said at the beginning; this is my take on the situation. I am happy with what we do and have been for the last 7 years. Other people may have different views but this outlines the position of the COCP & NWOCP projects. And that of the Warwickshire Ancestors Project 1891 returns.

Occasional notes No 4 - Header Data

2007-10-18T03:19:00.000-07:00

Along the top of each page of the enumerator's books is a lot of interesting information. The amount and type varies from census to census; there is very little in 1841. At the start of each enumeration district, there is also a page that records a description of the district including the registration district and sub-district names plus its number. Very little of this information is recorded by Free Census.

The reason we don't record it is due to the limitations of the original programme, INCENS, written back in 1999. There wasn't, it seems, space to record everything. So, from the district description page, we record only the ED number. From the individual page we record the folio number, page number, civil parish and ecclesiastical parish. Page numbers are printed within the page frame, top right or left. Folio numbers are stamped top right on every other page, top right and usually outside the frame. Each two pages are in fact the front and back of one page. So pages without folio numbers take the number of the preceding page. If a page is blank, then leave a note against the last record of the preceding page. This procedure is also followed if a page is missing. You don't have to do this with blank pages at the end of a district.

Returning to the lead-in page. Although we don't record the district description, it is worth volunteers transcribing it, because it is often better written and gives addresses that are used later on. Having worked out what it says, take a look at a map of the district and try and match up what is written with the map. The ED numbers on this page vary a lot. They might just be 1 or 2; or 1A, 2B, or something entirely different. Up to 3 numbers and one letter can be recorded for Free Census. If there are more (some 1851 ED numbers are 1ac and so on, then just input what you can, and leave a note. Free Census also has a system of ED suffixes. These identify certain types of returns and the numbering system has been lifted from the 1861 census instructions. If you have an ED number 1A, then the "A" is replaced by the appropriate number when necessary. According to Free Census, only those returns in institutional books get the suffix numbers. The COCP disagrees with this, and we give them for all institutions. One reason for this is that the census takers themselves didn't always stick to the rules about institutional books and the returns appear in the normal books.

NWOCP 1841 update 4th October 2007

2007-10-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

The NWOCP project for the whole county of Wiltshire for 1841 is being transcribed and checked by parish. When all the parishes in a Hundred are complete, they are all stitched together and reloaded to the NWOCP site and uploaded to Free Census.

The 1841 was enumerated by Registration District, then the returns were cut up and stuck back together into Hundreds. Hence the often confusing state of the returns.

This is the current position for the 1841 project:

1164 Alderbury complete
1165 Amesbury complete
1166 Bradford complete
1167 Branch & Dole complete
1168 Calne complete
1169 Cawden & Codsworth complete
1170 Chalk complete
1171 Chippenham 10% complete
1172 Chippenham 50% complete
1173 Nth Damerham 10% complete
1174 Dowton 70% complete
1175 Dunworth 20% complete
1176 Wroughton complete
1177 Heyesbury 15% complete
1178 Highworth 90% complete
1179 Swindon 80% complete
1180 Kinswardine complete
1181 Malmesbury 25% complete
1182 Melkesham
1183 Mere 10% complete
1184 Potterne & Cannings complete
1185 Aldbourne complete
1186 Swanborough 25% complete
1187 Warminster complete
1188 Westbury 5% complete
1189 Whitehorse 5% complete
1190 Salisbury complete

Nth Wilts OCP update

2007-09-07T01:49:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

Where is this?

Good morning from Cornwall.

The 1841 project is going well, with some 11 of the 27 ancient Hundreds now complete and online. Of the 16 remaining; 14 have some of the parishes complete and online. Up to now, we have managed with just one checker, our web site host John Pope. We have now got 3 checkers and I would like more. If any of the transcribers would like to try their hands at checking just drop me a line. I am hoping that you will all keep at the task - who knows, we might complete the job early next year.

On the 1861; here is what I think is being done:

1269 Highworth to be transcribed by Lilian Fraser
1270 Swindon, waiting for checker
1272 Swindon, waiting for checker
1274 Cricklade being transcribed by Sue Flower
1279 Malmesbury West, waiting for checker
1280 Castle Combe, being transcribed by Marlene Bond
1281 Corsham, waiting for checker
1282 Corsham, waiting for checker
1283 Chippenham, being transcribed by Nancy Frey
1284 Chippenham, being transcribed by Jane Brown
1285 Chrstian Malford, waiting for checker
1289 Marlborough being checked by Ray Smith

We have nine pieces complete and online.

For the 1871, we have 16 pieces online.

1881 Swindon being checked by Steve Brain
1883 Swindon being checked by Helen Ward
1884 Wootton Bassett being transcribed by Lianne McDowell
1885 Wootton Bassett waiting for checker
1888 Cricklade, status uncertain
1889 Malmesbury East, waiting for checker
1890 Malmesbury East, being transcribed by Karen Hayes
1891 Malmesbury West, being transcribed by Amanda Coles
1894 Castle Combe, being transcribed by Paul Webb
1895 Castle Coombe , being transcrribed by Harry Tadd
1896 Corsham, being checked by Heather Williams
1897 Corsham, being checked by John Holden
1898 Chippenham being checked by Phil Drewe
1900 Christian Malford, being checked by Valerie Henwood
1903 Calne to be transcribed by Vivienne Reaveley
1906 Marlborough, being checked by Edmund Bristow

Please do drop me a line. In the last month or so I have re-allocated 4 pieces. I don't know what has happened to the original volunteers - for all I know they could be beavering away. If you don't want to continue, then please let me know and return the disc. All of the people who have just dropped out of sight have taken the LDS discs with them.

COCP 1881 Project update

2007-09-05T02:51:00.001-07:00

Hello folks

Where is this?

Here is a list of what is being done to the 1881 returns and who is doing it. Any comments are welcome.

2270 Stratton being checked by Glenise Spittey
2272 Boscastle being checked by Richard Hender
2274 Alternon being checked by Geoff Moss
2278 North Hill being checked by John Ball
2282 Saltash being checked by Jan Lewis
2284 Liskeard Callington being checked by Althea Johnson
2286 Liskeard being checked by Valeri Paine
2287 Looe being checked by Maxine Cadzow
2299 Fowey being checked by David Trounce
2304 Mevagissey being checked by Helen Blamey
2309 St Agnes being checked by Geoff Westlake
2313 Kenwyn being checked by Malcolm Rule
2328 Gwennap being checked by Tony Bennett
2330 Redruth being checked by Di Thompson
2337 Phillack being checked by John Smith
2339 Uny Lelant being checked by Carol Jennings
2342 St Ives being checked by Peter Veryan
2349 being checked by Valerie Pettifer

COCP 1871 Project Upate

2007-09-05T02:33:00.001-07:00

Hello folks

First question - where is this?

Second question - Here is a list of the remaining 1871 pieces. Let me know if you disagree.

2217 Week St Mary Poundstock being transcribed by Caroline Buckland
2220 Camelford St Breward being checked by Judy Waddell
2225 Launceston St Magdalene being checked by Francis Kenshole
2228 Anthony Maker being transcribed by Julia Woodley
2234 Callington St Ive being transcribed by Lesley van Goeson
2236 Liskeard Menheniot waiting for transcriber
2237 Liskeard St Clear being transcribed by Susan Tippett
2238 Liskeard being checked by Julia Mays
2240 Liskeard St Neot being checked by Donna Hazledon
2253 Padstow being transcribed by Celia Wikert
2254 Padstow Little Petherick being checked by Pam Pinkerton
2255 St Columb Major being transcribed by Eleanor Twist
2288 Kea being checked by Doug Luke
2289 Kea Feock being transcribed by John Wright
2291 Mylor being checkd by Chris Uphill
2293 Falmouth to be checked by Christ Uphill
2296 Falmouth being checked by Barbara Pullar
2300 Wendron being transcribed by Robert Worthington
2304 Helston to be checked by Jeff Beaton
2306 St Keverne being checked by Penny Trueman
2315 Redruth being transcribed by Irene Todd
2316 Redruth being transcribed by Janet Copping
2322 Illogan being transcribed by Karen Duvall
2324 Camborne being transcribed by Yvonne Morgan
2325 Camborne transcribed; to be checked by John Nance
2328 Phillack being checked by Brian Millett
2331 Uny Lelant being transcribed by Samantha Hussey. To be checked by Maxine
2339 being transcribed by Primrose May
2340 Penzance being checked by John Nance
2341 Penzance being transcribed by Sandra Searston
2343 St Just in Penwith Morvah being transcribed by Gillian Johnson
2346 St Buryan being transcribed by Sue James

Occasional notes No 3 - Place of Birth

2007-08-26T01:51:00.000-07:00

I write about this because even experienced volunteers (7 years servitude!) are getting things wrong. Unfortunately, some of it is subjective and in some areas I do not agree with the Free Census policy. It is all covered in the General Instructions that everyone, including checkers, should have.

This can be divided into two - 1841 - and the rest.

In 1841, there are two fields. The first one asks if the person was born in the county or not. If the answer is YES, then the enumerator should enter a "Y". We enter the county code. If the person being recorded was born in England or Wales but not in the county, then the enumerator should record N for NO. We just enter OUC or the county mentioned. The enumerators were not required to enter the county. However, if the person was born overseas, or in Scotland or Ireland, then the enumerator should use the second column and enter F, S or I. We use OVF, SCT or IRL. If there is additional information, then record it in the notes column. If there is no information or you can't read it, enter UNK.

After 1841, things changed. There are still two columns to fill. The first should be the county and for this you use the Chapman code. Free Census has a modified version of this table; modified to include OVB, OVF and UNK. The second column should record the town or parish. For Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the enumerators were only required to enter the county, not the town or parish. For some reason unknown to me, ALL volunteers are strangely reluctant to use the Chapman code for Irish and Scottish counties. In fact, hardly anyone does, so I have to input them. If the second field is not used by the enumerator, input a hyphen.

Overseas births are difficult. This is a Free Census thingy and is not "as is". In general, I subscribe to the idea that if the name looks English, then they are OVB no matter where they are born. You, of course, still enter the details of their birthplace in the second column. In the first, you enter OVB or OVF. Quite often, British Subject or B S are added to the place of birth. You should enter this information, even if you are entering OVB. You should also enter OVB for people who are described as naturalised. If they are born at sea, then it is OK to follow the rule of thumb and enter OVB or OVF; but you can also enter UNK.

Free Census supplies a gazetteer, but it only has 35,000 or so place names. It is possible for the validator to enter the modern place name, but I don't. As long as you are sure it is transcribed correctly, then it will pass through the system and appear online, just as the enumerator wrote it. It is up to the customer to work out where the place is. If you are having trouble reading the place name, then there are various aids you can use. The first is Google. Just type the place name in and see what happens. Quite often, Google will put up our census returns in the first ten hits. So, another way of checking on a place name is to search our online returns. English place names have been largely unchanged for a long time. Sometimes, it is worth just browsing our online returns for clues. Some volunteers use the LDS familysearch web site; others use FreeBMD. If you think it will help - then leave a note. Do not correct the enumerator's words!

If the place of birth fields are empty, then you enter UNK hyphen. If it says N K or Not Known, then you enter the respective words and UNK for the county. In fact, whatever it says in the place of birth field, that is what you should enter. I will also point out that it is very unlikely that the enumerator would enter U K, as United Kingdom was not used then as it is today. It has got to be a badly written N K. Sometimes you will see N B; this is for North Britain, usually meaning Scotland. If you can't get everything into the place of birth field, then split it and use the notes column. Try and make it so that it makes sense. If you have something like St Stephens by Launceston, then St Stephens by Launc is acceptable. You can also spell out the whole thing in the notes column. Please don't use St. when the enumerator has used St - it makes hard work for me.

The bottom line is that we want what the enumerator has written; not what we think he should have written. As is!!!!!!

COCP 1871 Project Upate

2007-08-25T06:17:00.002-07:00

Occasional notes No 2 - Occupations

2007-08-15T02:45:00.000-07:00

The occupation column often contains a lot of useful information - useful for our customers that is. The transcribers have 31 characters(including spaces) available. However, many of you are using a templated spreadsheet that allows only 27 characters. I keep meaning to change this. It is, however, a useful discipline thing.

If there is more than 31 characters worth of detail, then you have two choices. You can abbreviate and fit the lot into the occupational field, or you can split the information and put part in the notes field. Or you can do both.

Abbreviations should be designed to make sense to the customer and to look neat. There is no need to abbreviate more than you have to. I get lots of "Farmer 200ac E 7m 3b" . It is obvious what is meant, but "Farmer 200a Emp 7 men 3 boys" looks better and still fits. If you have someone who has several occupations, then shuffle the employment data into the notes field. If you do that - enter it to fit the pattern you can see in the online returns already completed. So in this case, enter Employes 7 men 3 boys, not E 7m 3B.

If you have someone who is described as Grocer & Draper employing 3 lady assistants and a United Free Church local preacher, move the preacher stuff to the notes field - it is obviously not his primary occupation. You must strive to capture all the data. If a doctor gives his qualifications, as he was supposed to do, then enter them. It might help a researcher later on.

I cannot emphasize enough this business of capturing all the data. I have just done a piece which was full of entries like "Almswoman formerly laundress". It is not correct to enter Almswoman (laundress). She was, but she isn't now.

Things that are crossed out must be entered in the form "Pauper (crossed out)". If there isn't room, then put this information in the notes field. Sometimes things are crossed out because they were wrong, but in many instances, the information was correct but the enumerator was tidying up by crossing out things he should not have put in. We don't know why it was crossed out - but the researcher has all the data we have.

Things are rather more complicated for volunteers checking the 1881. Due to the reformatting, occupations are in uppercase and frequently, large chunks are shunted into the notes field. Checkers cannot edit the notes field, but they can edit the occupations field and/or leave a note for the validator.

Do NOT correct the enumerator's words. This morning I had a "Potografher". Don't transcribe this as "photographer"; enter it "as is". Leave a note if you wish. There are web sites containing lists of old occupations; but my first port of call is Google.

The final word is to try and get the entry as near as possible to the enumerator's words, given the limitations of the Free Census software. And make it look good for our web pages!

Occasional notes No 1 - Ecclesiastical Parishes

2007-08-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

When Free Census started in the summer of 2000 the only software was INCENS which was used for transcribers. The checking software, CHKCENS was developed on the hoof just in time for the first Cornish and Devonian pieces. At that time it was decided that the Ecclesiastical Parish needed to be captured. The project was only working on the 1891 at the time and the EP was almost always given in the top right slot on the page. It was felt that this was a valuable lead for researchers who would know the most likely parish registers to search. As the decision was rather late in the day for the numerous pieces already in the hands of transcribers, it was decided the checker should insert the EP.

The next set we tackled were the 1841; there was no slot for EP on the page. In 1851 there was a field for Ecclesiastical District, but it was rarely filled in. In 1861 the Ecclesiastical District had moved to the top right field, but didn't seem to be filled in very often. The position remained the same for the 1871 but in 1881 the field was changed to Ecc Parish or district. These were not often filled.

The difficulty is knowing just what an Ecc District is. The census returns themselves do not define it and enquiries made to people who might know have produced no answer. The fact that many of the returns have no entry for the relevant field suggests that the enumerators didn't know either. The assumption might be that it is a group of parishes, but that is only an assumption. And we don't do them, do we?

Sometimes, the ecclesiastical parish is mentioned on the enumerators "patch" description, but if it is not on the actual pages, we don't use that. Because it isn't "as is". We do take the ED number off that page, but nothing else.

So - what is required of transcribers and checkers? For transcribers it would be nice if they would leave a note against the first record of each ED, saying if the the Ecc field is filled in and with what. Or that it is empty. This will alert the checker. Checkers MUST fill in this field. At the first prompt you are required to do so. If there is nothing there, then enter a hyphen. Checkers must check the header detail at the start of each new page. Quite often, parishes, both civil and ecclesiastical change or go missing. You must follow these changes faithfully.

COCP 1881 update

2007-08-07T02:51:00.000-07:00

Hello Folks

The pub next door taken about 1890.

This is the list of 1881 pieces being checked currently. If you are not on the list or are not doing what I think you are; please drop me a line.

2270 Stratton being checked by Glenise Spittey
2272 Boscastle being checked by Richard Hender
2274 Alernon being checked by Geoff Moss
2278 North Hill being checked by John Ball
2282 Saltash being checked by Jan Lewis
2283 Callington being checked by Kevin Burrows
2286 Liskeard being checked by Valerie Paine
2287 Looe being checked by Maxine Cadzow
2290 St Mabyn being checked by Steve Mitchell
2299 Fowey being checked by David Trounce
2304 Mevagissey being checked by Helen Blamey
2309 St Agnes being checked by Geoff Westlake
2313 Kenwyn being checked by Malcolm Rule
2328 Gwennap being checked by Tony Bennett
2330 Redruth being checked by Di Thompson
2337 Phillack being checked by John Smith
2339 Uny Lelant being checked by Carol Jennings
2342 St Ives being checked by Peter Veryan
2349 beign checked by Valerie Pettifer

Most 1881 checkers have more than one piece on their discs; but you are only committed to the list above. Obviously, I hope you will stick with us the the bitter end!!!!

Nth Wilts OCP 1861 & 1871 update

2007-08-03T03:36:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

Here is the baptismal entry of one of my great great grandmothers. Mary Delaney, born in Gibraltar in 1825.

Remaining pieces of the Wiltshire 1861 & 1871 and who is working on them.

1269 Highworth to be transcribed by Lilian Fraser
1270 Swindon transcribed waiting for checker
1271 Swindon being checked by Phil Pike
1272 Swindon transcribed waiting for checker
1274 Cricklade being transcribed by Sue Flower
1279 Malmesbury West transcribed waiting for checker
1280 Castle Combe being transcribed by Marlene Bond
1281 Corsham, to be checked by Sue Flower
1282 Corsham transcribed waiting for checker
1283 Chippenham being transcribed by Nancy Frey
1284 Chippenham being transcribed by Jane Brown
1285 Christian Malford transcribed waiting for checker
1286 Calne to be transcribed by Jane Brown

1881 Swindon being checked by Steve Brain
1883 Swindon being checked by Helen Ward
1884 Wootton Bassett being transcribed by Lianne McDowell
1888 Cricklade being checked by Phil Drew
1889 Malmesbury East transcribed waiting for checker
1890 Malmesbury East being transcribed by Karen Hayes
1891 Malmesbury West
1894 Castle Combe being transcribed by Paul Webb
1895 Castle Combe being transcribed by Harry Tadd
1896 Corsham being checked by Heather Williams
1897 Corsham being checked by John Holden
1898 Chippenham being checked by Phil Drew
1900 Christian Malford being checked by Valerie Henwood
1903 Calne being transcribed by Linda-Jane Hamil
1906 Marlborough being checked by Edmund Bristow

COCP 1871 Project Upate

2007-08-03T02:27:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

Here is a list of the remaining pieces and of who is doing what to which; if you disagree, let me know please.

2217 Week St Mary Poundstock being transcribed by Caroline Buckland
2220 Camelford St Breward being transcribed by Celia Wikert
2225 Launceston St Magdalene being checked by Francis Kenshole
2228 Anthony Maker being transcribed by Julia Woodley
2232 Saltash being checked by Ken Hosking
2234 Callington St Ive being transcribed by Lesley van Goeson
2236 Liskeard Menheniot transcribed, waiting for checker
2237 being transcribed by Susan Hooper Tippett
2238 Liskeard being checked by Julia Mays
2240 Liskeard St Neot being checked by Donna Hazledon
2253 Padstow being transcribed by Shirley Ball
2254 Padstow Little Petherick being transcribed by Judy Holman (Waddell)
2255 St Columb Major being transcribed by Eleanor Twist
2256 St Columb Minor being checked by Pam Pinkerton
2261 Fowey St Blazey being checked by Kay Hinrichsen
2288 Kea being checked by Doug Luke
2289 Kea Feock being transcribed by John Wright
2291 Mylor being checkd by Chris Uphill
2293 Falmouth to be checked by Christ uphill
2296 Falmouth being checked by Barbara Pullar
2300 Wedndron being transcribed by Robert Worthington
2304 Helston to be checked by Jeff Beaton
2305 St Keverne St Martin in Meaneage to be checked by Jeff Beaton
2306 St Keverne being checked by Penny Trueman
2315 Redruth being transcribed by Irene Todd
2316 Redruth being transcribed by Janet Copping
2322 Illogan being transcribed by Karen Duvall
2324 Camborne being transcribed by Yvonne Morgan
2325 Camborne being transcribed by Sue James
2328 Phillack being checked by Brian Millett
2331 transcribed by Samantha Hussey. To be checked by Maxine
2339 being transcribed by Patience May
2340 Penzance being checked by John Nance
2341 Penzance being transcribed by Sandra Searston
2343 St Just in Penwith Morvah being transcribed by Gillian Johnson
2346 St Buryan to be checked by Judy Holman (Waddell)

George Orwell and perpetual war

2007-07-03T02:55:00.000-07:00

I don’t know how many of you have read “1984” by George Orwell, but the background to the personal stories were a global war between the three remaining countries. These wars were used to justify the enslavement of their populations. I think we are on our way to that future.

Since 1990, the United Kingdom has been engaged in an assortment of armed conflicts. Often, these are not called wars, but they are. We have fought in the Balkans and West Africa, and of course, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of them were under UN mandates, but some were not. We have bombed countries and we have invaded them.

Currently, we are engaged in two major conflicts. We have been fighting in Afghanistan for five years now and there is no sign that we are prevailing. The Afghanis are a people with a long memory and a desire for revenge. Some of them are still quarreling about the results of Alexander the Great’s invasion of 2500 years ago! The Taliban are not from the planet Zog, most of them are Afghanis and every time one is killed his relatives are committed to revenge to honour family, clan or tribe.

Our last Prime Minister is now safely out of office but he claimed that we could be fighting there for a generation – which as family historians we would reckon as about 20 years. The new man seems to be inclined to stick with his friend Tony’s plan.

I was in favour of the invasion of Iraq to remove Saddam Husein. Rather foolishly, I imagined that the invaders would have a viable plan for post-war Iraq. Obviously they didn’t and there is no sign that things are getting better. We have been there for 4 years now and more than 100 British servicemen and women have died and hundreds have been badly injured. There is a democratically elected government in Baghdad, but they are more interested in re-fighting the battles of 1100 years ago.

Now our Prime Minister, in his first big foreign thing, is proposing we deploy troops to the Sudan. Darfur and Chad are hell-holes right in the centre of Africa. There is fighting going on between numerous murderous groups, including the governments of Chad and the Sudan. He is talking of some 27,000 troops being needed. Only a few will be British, he says. I wonder if he has heard of mission creep?

This is an UN-mandated operation. The UN already has 16,000 troops in the southern Sudan and 17,000 in the Congo. Each of these operations is costing over a billion pounds a year to run. The operation in Darfur will be a nightmare in terms of logistics. Has any ever operated on this scale in that area? I think not.

Returning to the novel "1984", do you remember the two way television set through which Big Brother watched his subjects? Think how easier that will be with TV delivered via a broadband link. Anyone looked inside their new digital TV?

COCP Newsletter 22

2007-07-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

Taken inside the ruins of Aghaboe Abbey west of Dublin. Strangely, no mention of Cornelius Delaney, GGGgrandfather of Michael McCormick, born here in 1800.

The COCP 1851 project is complete! The last piece is being processed right now. Now for the 1871!

Here is a list of what I think is being done at the moment; if you disagree, let me know please.

2217 Week St Mary Poundstock being transcribed by Caroline Buckland
2220 Camelford St Breward being transcribed by Brian Taylor
2225 Launceston St Magdalene being checked by Carla van Kleek
2228 Anthony Maker being transcribed by Julia Woodley
2232 Saltash being checked by Roger Parsons
2234 Callington St Ive being transcribed by Lesley van Goeson
2236 Liskeard Menheniot transcribed
2238 Liskeard being checked by Julia Mays
2240 Liskeard St Neot being checked by Donna Hazledon
2253 Padstow being transcribed by Shirley Ball
2254 Padstow Little Petherwick being transcribed by Judy Holman (Waddell)
2255 St Columb Major being transcribed by Sylvia Trevena
2256 St Columb Minor being checked by Pam Pinkerton
2261 Fowey St Blazey being checked by Marie O’sullivan
2264 St Austell being checked by Glynis Millet-Clay
2273 Probus Ladock being checked by Maxine Cadzow
2288 Kea being checked by Doug Luke
2289 Kea Feock being transcribed by John Wright
2291 Mylor being checkd by Chris Uphill
2293 Falmouth to be checked by Christ uphill
2296 Falmouth being transcribed by Faye Ammermann
2300 Wedndron being transcribed by John Dobson
2302 Wendron Sithney being checked by Frances Keshole
2304 Helston being checked by Jeff Beaton
2305 St Keverne St Martin in Meaneage to be checked by Jeff Beaton
2306 St Keverne being checked by Penny Trueman
2314 Gwennap to be checked by Maxine Cadzow
2315 Redruth being transcribed by Irene Todd
2316 Redruth being transcribed by Janet Copping
2322 Illogan being transcribed by Karen Duvall
2324 Camborne being transcribed by Yvonne Morgan
2325 Camborne being transcribed by Sue James
2328 Phillack being checked by Brian Millett
2330 Uny Lelant Ludgvan to be checked by Maxine Cadzow
2340 Penzance being checked by Lynne Evans
2341 St Just in Penwith Morvah to be transcribed by Gillian Johnson
2346 St Buryan to be checked by Judy Holman (Waddell)

C-PROP Phillimore Instructions

2007-06-29T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

I had no intention of producing these – regarding the Phillimore lists as being just a matter of typing into a spreadsheet. As usual, it is rather more complicated than that. And, as with the census volunteers, you are all experts at finding new questions to ask! That is not a complaint.

So here are a few helpful (I hope) pointers.

1. Where the bride or groom has a title specified e.g. Mr/Mrs/Sir/Rev etc. then enter this in brackets after the forename so Rev. John Smith would be entered with the forename as "John (Rev)" and "Smith" as the surname. If no forename is entered, e.g. Mrs Smith, then enter (Mrs) Smith. This makes searching the database easier.

2. Comments such as "Gent" go in the "occupation" column as the "condition" column is for marital condition e.g. widower etc. Sojourner goes in the Abode column. Single letter notations are often used. W is for widow or widower and goes in the condition columns. Y is for Yeoman and H is for Husbandman. These go in the occupation columns.

3. Married by Licence - this information goes in the "Banns" column. If the entry mentions that the marriage was by Banns then "Banns" would go in this column.

4. Register comments. A comment on a separate line that says that there are no marriage entries for years 1630-1635. The records go into the database and are viewed separately so an empty record with this comment will not get seen. The counter example is "The following are from the Bodmin Transcripts. They do not appear to have been entered either at Morvah or Madron:". This is useful information but needs to be entered against each record to which it applies.

5. The main columns have a limitation on the number of characters which each cell can contain, in order to keep the search time within reasonable limits. However, the Register Notes and Transcriber Notes columns (which aren't searched) are almost limitless in the amount of space available. So all long statements should go into one of those.

6. Please don’t use unusual symbols such as square brackets and askerisks. Ordinary brackets are OK. You can use question marks. If you can read only part of a name, then try McCxxxxxxk.

When I get a spreadsheet, I give it a quick look over and then forward it to one of the two people with authority to upload. They will give it a much more detailed appraisal and correct anything that needs correction before uploading it. The less they have to do the better.

If you have any suggestions for advice that might help – please send them in.

Cornish Family History Research Online

2007-06-26T01:50:00.000-07:00

Not Cornwall! My favourite city.

Cornwall is an unusual English county, not least because many people will tell you that it is not English or a county! It is also unusual in that it is further advanced towards becoming fully online, as far as family history research is concerned.

At the centre of Cornish online research are the Cornish GENUKI pages (http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/). These provide links to anything and everything to do with Cornish family history. The pages are organised on a hierarchical basis and lead to some 260 town and parish pages and some more general pages. Normally GENUKI aims to use the county and parishes as they were in 1850 but these Cornish pages also include new parishes created towards the end of the 19th century. The Cornish GENUKI pages are constantly being updated, so it is worth checking them frequently.

The Cornwall Online Census Project 9COCP) started in the summer of 2000, transcribing the 1891 returns from fiche supplied by the LDS. By 1st June 2007 the 1841, 1861 and 1891 censuses were complete along with 99% of the 1851; 85% of the 1871; and 25% of the 1881). The aim of the project is to transcribe all the Cornish 19th census returns and place them online free-to-view at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kayhin/ukocp.html.

The Online Parish Clerk scheme (OPC), originated in Cornwall about five years ago and has now spread to half a dozen other counties. Volunteers adopt a parish or parishes and seek to accumulate information and data about their parish. Their primary aim is to offer free “look ups” for researchers, usually via the Cornish mailing lists. Many of the OPC have their own web sites but the central site is on http://www.cornwall-opc.org/index.htm Some of the individual web sites and the central web site contain data.

The OPC scheme has now launched its own searchable online “free-to-view” database – known as C-PROP – the Cornish Parish Register Online Project (http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/). Starting about a year ago it already has over a half of a million records online. Initially it concentrated on Church of England registers, but its scope encompasses other types of data.

The C-PROP database contains “hatches, matches & dispatches” from the 19th century West Briton newspaper. The West Briton Project aims to transcribe all the interesting information from the newspaper and place it online at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wbritonad/cornwall/intro.html

There are two Cornish mailing lists. The main Cornish list, Cornish-L, is for all things Cornish, while Cornish-GEN is a list strictly for family history. The Cornish-L list is home to the famous (or infamous) virtual Christmas party! Details of how to subscribe can be found at Rootsweb.

Cornish Parish Register Online Project

2007-06-26T01:15:00.000-07:00

Grandson outgrows bucket!

The Cornish Parish Register Online Project (C-PROP) is a daughter project of the Cornish Online Parish Clerk (OPC) scheme. The project aims to transcribe all the Cornish parish register entries and place them online, free-to-view, in a searchable database. The project encompasses other sorts of data such as the West Briton lists of “hatches, matches and dispatches”.

The people involved are Myra Cordrey (OPC scheme co-ordinator), Diane Donohue & Julia Mosman (LDS liaison), Bill O’Reilly (COCP “fixer” & C-PROP uploader), and myself, recruiter for C-PROP. I am also the Free Census organiser for Cornwall and the other four are all OPC for various Cornish parishes.

A current project is to re-type the contents of the well-known Phillimore marriage lists. Done at the end of the 19th century, these are a valuable transcript of the parish registers. Often the work was carried out by vicars with the co-operation of the parish priest. These people were experienced with the records and of course, the records were younger than they are now.

Although this data is a typed transcript, we need it re-typed into our standard spreadsheet as a vital intermediate step to uploading into the database. We would like to capture all the information in the lists. You are invited to place the additional information in the two notes columns that are provided.

You will see that there are a lot of columns you won’t need. This is because the spreadsheet was designed to cover all types of registration document and the later registers carried a lot more information.

Each parish should have its own spreadsheet and on completion, each parish should be emailed to me. Do not wait till you have completed the volume. I will eye-ball it and then forward it to one of the two uploaders. They will check it more thoroughly for layout and other problems and upload it to C-PROP.

When you have graduated from the Phillimore project we hope that you are sufficiently enthused to volunteer to take on some actual parish registers. These are supplied on disc and involve transcription as well as data input.

C-PROP can be seen on http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/ Check out the coverage table to see your name in lights! Currently, we have well over half a million records online. With your help we should hit a million soon. Well – quite soon.

NWOCP Newsletter No 8

2007-05-21T03:10:00.000-07:00

Minack cliff-top theatre in Cornwall

Centre of picture - girl with smile - yet another grandchild!

The NWOCP continues to make steady progress with the 1841 returns with about half of them now transcribed and online. However, movement on the 1861 & 71 is much slower and on the 1891 there isn't anything to report.

What I would like you to do if you are working on the 1861 or 1871 returns is to drop me a line sometime. Please confirm the details below and give me a rough estimate of your progress. Transcribers can just tell me which image they are on and how many they have left; Checkers can select review progress under Options and just cut and paste the results into their email.

Some of you have not written to me for a long while and I really need to have some idea of how you are doing - or if, indeed, you are doing anything. I received a disc the other day from a chap who had it for a year. He had never written to me and had not made a start on the piece.

This is an option open to everyone. If you don't want to carry out the task, then just let me know and return the disc - no hard feelings on my part.

If you are finding it hard work, please take my advice and just do a few hours a week; it will get done sooner than you think.

Email is very simple - so just please write to me!!!!!

1861:

1269 Highworth being transcribed by Liz Price
1270 Swindon being transcribed by Helen Ward
1271 Swindon being checked by Phil Pike
1274 Cricklade being transcribed by Peter Collins
1278 Malmesbury West being checked by Allan Kennaird
1280 Castle Combe being transcribed by Marlene Bond
1281 Corsham being transcribed by Chris Hughes
1284 Chippenham being transcribed by Kevin Lacey
1286 Calne being transcribed by Peter Reddick
1288 Marlborough being checked by Ray Smith

1871:

1884 Wootten Bassett being transcribed by Lianne McDowell
1890 Malmesbury East being transcribed by Kren Hayes
1891 Malmesbury West being transcribed by Amanda Coles
1892 Malmesbury West being checked by Keith Salisbury
1894 Castle Combe being transcribed by Paul Webb
1895 Castle Combe being transcribed by Harry Tadd
1896 Corsham being checked by Heather Williams
1898 Chippenham being transcribed by Nancy Frey
1900 Christian Malford being checked by Valerie Henwood
1906 Marlborough being checked by Edmund Bristow

COCP Newletter No 21 - 1881 project

2007-04-27T23:39:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

Recent family history lunch in Cornwall.

At the moment there are twelve people checking 1881 returns; some of whom are waiting for their first zip. This is a revisit to blog newsletter of March 10th this year.

This transcription was given to us and is not in the FC format. It has to be reformatted before it will go into the FC checking software. The transcription is a good one and most of the problems in checking stem from the reformatting that has had to be done.

Schedule numbers and page breaks are inserted arbitrarily during reformatting because there are none in the transcription. The reformatting will only input page breaks with a household start. Often, where a page break comes in the middle of a schedule (on the image), the change is not being noted by the project checkers. Checkers must check the header detail for every household and keep an eye open for changes during a schedule.

There is also a problem with lodgers. Enumerators should have treated them as a separate household. Sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't. Even where the enumerator got it right, the non-FC transcribers frequently ignored the separation of landlord's family and any lodger. If a lodger has a schedule number of his own; he is a separate household. If he does not, he is part of the relevant household.

The transcription does not include the uninhabited dwellings and public buildings. Free Census requires they be inserted. This involves inserting a new record. The header detail of this new record will reflect the previous household unless the checker changes it.

The occupational field in the donated transcription is more generous than FC allows. During reformatting the occupational data is often split and part of it is dumped in the notes field. Checkers cannot edit the transcriber notes field, but they can tidy up the occupational field. By the use of judicious abbreviations you can get the information into the limited space available. If you are uncertain of what is allowed, browse the existing returns on our web site. Our aim should be to produce something that is correct, makes sense - and looks nice!

The original transcribers seem to have entered all "unmarried" people as "single". I do not want all the "S" changed to "U" but they also seemed to have classified everyone 14 and above as "S". If there is nothing in the marital status column on the actual returns, then pse change it to a hyphen.

It might seem a bit perverse to do the 1881, given that the Mormon version has been available for so long. Please be assured that we are finding errors and correcting them, so it will be worthwhile. And will lead to us accomplishing our task - to transcribe ALL the Cornish 19th century returns and make them available free-to-view.

COCP Newletter No 20

2007-04-15T03:44:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

My garden last summer; this year summer is coming early! The cat is sunbathing (he has to have sun block on his remaining ear); the Starlings are back in the roof and the weeds are growing fast. I should be concentrating on the garden; but there are all these census returns........

We continue to upload returns from 1851, 71 & 81. We are now down to 10 1851 parishes or bits of parishes. Another couple of months should see it finished. At the moment Kay & I are chasing up 1871 volunteers to see what they are doing. Or not doing.

If you are in the habit of writing to places such as the Rootsweb mailing lists; can I ask you to use a signature block advertising that you are a volunteer for COCP? The publicity helps me.......

Email must be the easiest form of communication invented (maybe texting is more so). Would anyone like my mobile number? And we also have jabber........ But still, many of you don't seem to appreciate how easy it is to drop me a line to tell me how you are getting on. Or even to tell me you are still alive! Strangely enough, I have had five volunteers die whilst on the job and their next-of-keen were quick to look through their emails and contact me to tell me the sad news. It is the living ones who are not playing the game fairly.

If you don't want to carry on - just let me know and send the disc back.

The parish register project has now broken through the half a million barrier. Next stop one million!

I am offline April 17-24th inclusive. That means there is still 48 hours for you to drop me a line and to enlighten me as to what you are doing. Or not doing.

Rgds and good luck!

NWOCP Newsletter No 7

2007-04-15T03:36:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

Six frightening years I spent down the back of this!

The project continues to upload lots of 1841 stuff; rather less 1861/71/91 stuff. No 1891 returns as a matter of fact have been uploaded for some time. Does anyone have a microfiche reader?

If you are in the habit of writing to places such as the Rootsweb mailing lists; can I ask you to use a signature block advertising that you are a volunteer for NWOCP? The publicity helps me.......

Our web site owner has now got a roll of honour - take a look to see if you are there. He would like to post pictures on it. I would like you to as well - it would be nice to see what we all look like!

Email must be the easiest form of communication invented (maybe texting is more so). Would anyone like my mobile number? And we also have jabber........

But still, many of you don't seem to appreciate how easy it is to drop me a line to tell me how you are getting on. Or even to tell me you are still alive! Strangely enough, I have had five volunteers die whilst on the job and their next-of-keen were quick to look through their emails and contact me to tell me the sad news. It is the living ones who are not playing the game fairly.

If you don't want to carry on - just let me know and send the disc back.

I am offline April 17-24th inclusive. That means there is still 48 hours for you to drop me a line and to enlighten me as to what you are doing. Or not doing.

Rgds and good luck!

Michael

NWOCP Newsletter No 6

2007-03-28T03:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Folks

Two more grandchildren, but this time there is a connection. The grand daughter is actually the youngest transcriber I have ever recruited! Her mother says that it will keep her away from The Sims! We will see......

In the last month we have uploaded:

1841
HO107/1164 Hundred of Alderbury. Pat Mahoney (Aus)
HO107/1180 Hundred of Kinwardstone. Peter Eastman (UK)
HO107/1185 Hundred of Selkey. Carol Patios (Aus)

[All 1841 checking done by our web site host, John Pope (UK)]

1861
RG101277 Malmesbury. Sue Flower(UK) & Phil Pike (UK)

1871
RG101882 Swindon. Jane Brown (Can) & Phil Drew (Aus)
RG101886 Sue Flower (UK) & Ray Smith (UK)

Four people have dropped out and two more have joined. I am still worried by lack of contact with a number of you. If you haven't written to me in the last two months, please drop me a line. If you are not actually going to do what you have volunteered to do, please post the disc back to me.

At the last Free Census rebuild we had contributed 95,922 records - good going for 14 months. This includes five of the 1841 Hundreds. Of course, the NWOCP web site contains a lot of 1841 records that have yet to be uploaded to Free Census.

Don't forget - please drop me a line!

How quiet it was!

2007-03-14T03:07:00.000-07:00

Taken in 1904.

The other day I was sat at the top of my long narrow garden, drinking coffee & smoking a small cigar. I suddenly noticed that I could hear the cries of three buzzards soaring above the village. Young buzzards often stay with their parents for a couple of years, so I expect this was a family group.

I live in a very small Cornish village called Mitchell. First mentioned in a court case in London in 1235, it used to be called Medeschole. The court case confirmed the landowner’s charter to hold an annual market here. Medeschole was an artificial borough created to sit on a cross roads. In the 13th century many such boroughs were created in England and the English parts of France. Our cottage is in the middle of a terrace of granite houses built about 1850 for workers in the giant lead mine at Wheal Rose, about a mile north of the village.

Behind the cottages are long narrow gardens, about 20 feet wide and 120 feet long. Typical working class gardens they would have had a flower area, a rather larger area for vegetables, a few fruit trees and possibly, a sitting out area with a patch of grass. At the top of the garden is a stone privy complete with thunderbox. A long walk on a winter night.

What has this got to do with buzzards? Well, the A30 lies a few hundred yards north of us and in the garden there is a constant background noise from the traffic. It never ends and usually you just ignore it. I could hear the buzzards because there was a break in the traffic. It set me to thinking about how quiet it must have been here when Medeschole was young.

There was a chapel here and although it fell down about 400 years ago, it is known it had a bell. So that would have tolled at set times. The nearest church is over two miles north, so you wouldn’t have heard that very often. There was a blacksmith at the other end of the village, so you might hear the banging and clanging from there.

There would have been some noise from the Stanna Way, which ran through the village. There would almost certainly have been a few drinking establishments. Just to the west of Mitchell is a very large hill and no doubt the carters etc would have needed a drink after the descent and one before tackling the hill if going westwards.

Overall, it would have been very quiet, above all because there would have been very few people. An estimated 25,000 in the whole of Cornwall in 1086 and 35,000 in 1377. Current population is approaching half a million!

Nothing but the cries of the buzzards

Yet another rant from Cornwall

2007-03-12T05:47:00.000-07:00

Democracy in Cornwall

Who are the voters in Cornwall? First of all, there are the Cornish, people born here of parents born here of parents born here…….. There was a debate in the local press at the time of the last census in 2001 and a well-known protagonist of “Cornishness” ended up saying that if you lived here and felt Cornish – you were Cornish.

Only about half the electorate are Cornish (however you define it); the other half are like me – blow-ins as some rude lady once said. However, many of us have lived here for a long time, and unlike many of the Cornish, we have chosen to live here. So, I will call us the Cornwallians.

As we all have a single vote, any major change should aim to carry us all with it. Which is where what I call the “Western Ghettoists” go wrong. They want enforced Cornishness and they also want the rest of the UK to pay for it. A very unlikely arrangement!

At the moment in Cornwall, we have seven layers of government. At the top is the French government in Brussels. Unelected by us and remote and untouchable. And unloved. Below them comes the Scottish government in London. Roughly speaking most of us don’t like them at all. Below them is a regional assembly. Unelected and situated in Swindon or somewhere up there. Nothing to do with us and also disliked.

Finally, we reach Cornwall. Sitting in Truro is the County Council, overall rulers of the county. Heavily constrained by the three layers above them and increasingly secretive. We get to vote on them every 4 years, but we always return the same people. Odd that, as no one has much time for them.

Below them are the six District Councils. These are the nuts-and-bolts people. They collect the rubbish, maintain the street lights and so on. We get to vote for them, but don’t care much for them. Most people think they cost too much.

Right at the bottom are the Parish Councils. Also elected, they have few powers but they usually have to be consulted and they are required to consult us – the voters – and we are right at the bottom.

How does all this work? Well, in my small village (now 150 households), a developer wants to build a row of five houses. At the village consultation no one was in favour. The Parish council advised against. The District Council voted it down and it went to appeal. An unelected bureaucrat in Bristol, who probably doesn’t even know where we are, has approved the plan. Democracy it is not!

Now, the Scottish government is thinking about yet another re-organisation of local government. The paranoid section of the press thinks this is all part of a secret plan by the French government in Brussels. But it is probably just something governments do when they are desperate to do something. They have called for helpful suggestions.

The County Council wants to abolish the District Councils. The District Councils want to abolish the County Council. They both claim their plan will save money. We know it won’t. But it doesn’t matter what we want – because we are not being asked. The County Council has conducted a telephone poll of 1000 people and says they like its plan. Really? Who are these people? Are they all council taxpayers?

What this shows is that democracy in Cornwall is in short supply. The voters are irrelevant to these people. I don’t have any solutions – well, I do – but they won’t be adopted.

As a last resort, perhaps taking one in ten of them out and shooting them might help!

Nothing to do with census returns!!!!

2007-03-12T05:14:00.000-07:00

This lady is a distant Aunt of mine called Catherine Delaney.

From the census returns, I knew that a great great grandmother of mine was born in Gibraltar. She stuck out like a sore thumb in the returns for Birmingham. I viewed the parish registers for the main (and only?) RC church in Gibraltar for a likely period - and there she was. Shout of joy that caused the customers of the Mormons in Helston to gather round. Some kind lady in Cheltenham translated the abbreviated priestly Latin for me and I discovered that her father was a corporal in the 94th Regt of Foot. I also found she had a brother.

I found a lot of information on the IGI - but it was placed there by a member of the Church and there didn't seem to be any way of contacting him or her.

My next step was to pay a researcher to look for Cornelius Delaney in the army records at Kew. Two lots of £25 bought me a great deal of information about him. A search of the Army records also turned up another 4 children, all born to another wife.

Catherine Delaney was born about 1835 on a ship off Malta. Her father's regiment had moved from Gibraltar to Malta and was now on its way to India. He didn't spend much time there and was back in Ireland by 1836. He managed to fit t being busted from Sgt to Private for being drunk on bathing parade!

I posted my Delaney details on the Delaney message board and much to my surprise got responses from two ladies in Australia. It seemed I had lots of relatives out there! The whole family had gone to Tasmania on a convict ship, the SS Rodney. Cornelius was an Enrolled Pensioner Guard. Catherine married a convict (or ex-convict) in 1851 and soon after that, the whole lot of them moved to Victoria. She died in 1913 and this photograph is said to have been taken shortly before her death.

One of the Australian respondents on the Delaney message board put me in touch with the Mormon source. She was an 82-year old lady living in Sidney. She had a computer but didn't use the internet. We exchanged information and we both ended up with much better family trees. She had been studying Cornelius and his family for 60 years! By the way, this made me look at the IGI in a different light.

What a life Catherine had! Three long sea voyages when they were very unhealthy. I don't suppose that Tasmania was very safe in 185o either. Yet she lasted 78 years! They made them differently in those days!

I sometimes look at her picture and wonder what she would think of me.......

A final note is that Cornelius is another of my Irish brick walls. Although I know where he was born and when, he isn't on the parish register. Lots of Delaneys, but not mine.

COCP Newletter No 19

2007-03-10T23:27:00.000-08:00

Hello folks

This week we have completed 7 more 1871 pieces plus 3 1881. They should all be online soon. The number of 1851 parishes being worked on has fallen to about a dozen. Shouldn't be long now. The February rebuild of Free Census showed that we have completed and uploaded 1,500,741 returns.

At the moment there are ten people checking 1881 returns and it is this project that is the subject of this newsletter. This transcription was given to us and is not in the FC format. It has to be reformatted before it will go into the FC checking software. The transcription is a good one and most of the problems in checking stem from the reformatting that has had to be done.

Schedule numbers and page breaks are inserted arbitrarily because there are none in the transcription. Often, where a page break comes in the middle of a schedule, the change is not being noted. Checkers must check the header detail for every household and keep an eye open for changes during a schedule. There is also a problem with lodgers. Enumerators should have treated them as a separate household. Sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't. Even where the enumerator got it right, the non-FC transcribers frequently ignored the separation of landlord's family and any lodger.

The transcription does not include the uninhabited dwellings and public buildings. Free Census requires they be inserted. This involves inserting a new record. The header detail of this new record will reflect the previous household unless the checker changes it. Ths comment also applies to volunteers checking the other years.

The occupational field in the donated transcription is more generous than FC allows. During reformatting the occupational data is often split and part of it is dumped in the notes field. Checkers cannot edit the transcriber notes field, but they can tidy up the occupational field. By the use of judicious abbreviations you can get the information into the limited space available. If you are uncertain of what is allowed, browse the existing returns on our web site. Our aim should be to produce something that is correct, makes sense - and looks nice!

We have now completed the 41, 61 & 91 returns; the 51 is almost complete and about 60% of the 1871 is done. More & more work is going to be 1881. I have just spent 3 days validating a single 1881 piece!

Finally, a reminder that we are transcribing "as is". It doesn't matter if the Enumerator is wrong - we want to record his words. Place names, surnames, relationships - it doesn't matter - get down what he wrote. Leave notes if it will help. If I don't think researchers will understand our finished work, I will write a note for them.

All in all, things are going well. Another couple of years and I can retire and grow cabbages. Or something.

COCP Newsletter No 18

2007-02-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

Hello from Cornwall. As usual, the picture has nothing to do with anything. It shows me and five grandchildren on my birthday last year.

Although things might seem very quiet, we have been getting on with the project. Since the beginning of the year we have uploaded:

1851
West Looe Joan Oliver & Frances Kenshole
Redruth Asylum Joan Oliver & Frances Kenshole
Saltash (completion piece) Moira Hurst & Ken Hosking

1861
1579 (completion piece) Shirley Franklin & Maxine Cadzow
1584 (last piece) Carrol Parfait, Maxine Cadzow & Marion Paul

1871
2224 St Stephen John Warren & Julia Mays
2257 Newlyn East Faye Ammermann & Jan Lewis
2318 Redruth Caroline Buckland & Ken Hosking
2338 Penzance Paul Archie Courtney-Williams, Frances Kenshole & Carrol Parfait

1881
2297 St Columb David Trounce
2303 St Austell David Trounce
2321 Wendron Althea Johnson
2323 Wendron Althea Johnson
2324 St Keverne Althea Johnson
2325 St Keverne Althea Johnson
2326 Breage Althea Johnson

In the pipeline are 7 1871 pieces and half a dozen 1881. Redruth 1851 was a very large piece - over 10,000 records - and puts the 1851 within a couple of percent of completion.

Free Census rebuilt its database on the 21st February and we have now contributed 1.5 million records - some 16% of the total.

The online parish register project continues to grow - nearly 480,000 records online. It is now possible to upload all or some of the details from post-1837 marriage certificates using an online submission form. Forms for births & deaths will follow. A number of volunteers are busy inputting the Phillimore marriage lists and extraction of hatches, matches & dispatches from the West Briton transcription project continues apace.

NWOCP Newsletter No 5

2007-02-04T00:57:00.000-08:00

This is aimed at the 1841 volunteers, but it is mostly valid for any year.

When a parish spreadsheet comes in, I reformat it as .csv and load it into FCTools. The diagnostic package details the errors & warnings. Errors have to be fixed, but warnings may not be serious enough to do anything about. But I usually do them with the 1841 parishes as they are so small. I then marry them to a data file and produce a zipped file for checking. I load this into the checking software to see it loads OK and then send it off to the checker.

There is only one checker for the 1841 - our web site host - John Pope. He produces a checked zip, often accompanied by colourful comments, and sends it to me.

I load this into Valdrev and validate it. The output zip from Valdrev then goes back into FCTools for a final burst of corrections. The refined output zip is sent to John, who turns it into html and uploads it to his web site.

When a whole Hundred is done (we have done two so far), I run all the validated zips back through FCTools to produce a series of spreadsheets. I stitch these all together and run the resulting giant spreadsheet back through FCTools to produce a final validated file. This goes back to John for him to create the html. Once I have looked at that and re-assured myself that all looks well, I send the data zip off to a guy name Bill O'Reilly. Amongst other things, he looks after the upload to Free Census side of things for me. You need to be a Windows user to do that and I am not one of those.

Common errors. I am not saying that you all make them or that anyone makes them all - but they come up again and again.

1. Do not use question marks or any other such characters anywhere except in the notes Col Y.

2. Make sure that all households have a schedule number - zero. Make sure that all uninhabited dwellings & public buildings have their own record complete with sched zero.

3. No entry must be on more than one line. If you cannot abbreviate an address for instance onto one line, then put some of it in the notes column.

4. Stick to the plan on folio numbers. Pages without a number take that of the preceding page.

5. If you are uncertain of anything - flag it up.

6. Addresses must only be entered against a schedule. They must not appear in the middle of a household. If a household straddles a page break; backtrack to the previous page and enter the address there.

7. Col T - county of birth - must have a 3-digit code from the table in the Free Census Field descriptions.

8. There is no need to use capitals or put the "y" after ages. You must put "m, w or d" if they are applicable though.

9. All records must be transcribed, including those crossed out.

Don't forget to keep an eye on the blog on http://medeschole.blogspot.com/

A Gigantic Whinge

2007-01-20T06:52:00.000-08:00

The aim of Free Census is to provide an accurate transcription of the pages of the Enumerators' books. To that end we transcribe "as is". This is the so-called Golden Rule of Free Census. Just by chance the other day, I noticed a little girl called Olive E Smith, born in Lydiard Tregoze. But the Enumerator had written Oliff E Smith born Liddiard Tregooze. That is what the transcriber should have written.

When I start new checkers off, I always state what seems obvious to me. Checkers must try and identify AND then fix the transcriber's errors. In the case of Oliff, the checker detected the error and left me a note. This is NOT correct practice. The checking software allows you to do many things and all but one field can be corrected. Only the transcriber's notes cannot be edited by a checker.

My final whinge for today concerns communication. Emails must be one of the easiest and fastest systems of global communication yet invented. Why then, do I not get regular emails from volunteers? All you have to do is drop me an email every month or couple of months telling me what you are doing. It would be nice if you had a subject line - NWOCP 1287 would tell me at once what you are working on. For transcribers, just say your piece has 253 images and you are working on image 157. For checkers it can be more accurate. Under Options you can select review progress. This tells you exactly how many records you have, how many you have done and how many are left. You just cut and paste this into your email.

Finally, if you don't want to do what you have volunteered to do - then please, oh please, tell me. There will be no hard feelings. Although the task is quite easy to carry out, it can be a pain. Lots of people drop out - for all sorts of reasons. Just let me know and return the disc.

Occasional rant by Blog owner!

2007-01-02T05:28:00.000-08:00

My wife and I have a newspaper each every morning, which we read over breakfast. Most mornings produce a rant from Michael, which she endures politely. I have decided to have an occasional rant on my blog. If you don’t want to read it, don’t. If you wish to comment, be my guest.

A sneaky announcement on December 29th (after the New Year holiday had started) revealed that the EU had wimpishly given in to the demands of the US government over transatlantic flight passenger information. Well, I say announcement, but in fact it was only revealed after a Freedom of Information release, forced by the Tories.

Under this deal, airlines will provide the US Government with 34 pieces of information on people flying into the USA. This information will include name & home address; email address, telephone number and credit card details. This last will not only show which card has been used, but will allow the US government to access the credit card account.

Although the justification for this invasion of privacy is anti-terrorism, the US Government reserves the right to look for other sorts of alleged violations of US law. Not EU law or British law – US law. Some two dozen US agencies will have access to this data and the US Government reserves the right to share information with “foreign” governments.

In my opinion the EU should immediately insist on reciprocity. Every US citizen flying into the EU should have to provide the same 34 bits of information. Plus they should have their fingerprints taken, pictures taken and be finally and ritually humiliated by having to provide a DNA sample. The EU should also insist on a visa, although we will waive that under a visa-waiver scheme. Sound familiar?

However, the EU is pretty gutless at the best of times and the UK no longer has the power to go its own way. But just in case any US readers think their privacy is safe, their government is going to “encourage” US airlines flying into the EU to provide the information anyway.

I have spent many happy times in the USA. I did a rough count the other day; since 1958 I have made over 50 visits to that great country. I don’t think I will be visiting again. Shame

COCP Newsletter No 17

2007-01-02T01:59:00.000-08:00

Hello from Cornwall

Here in the southwest of the UK, the day has started off dark, wet & windy. Just like yesterday really. What a difference a new year does make!

Anyway, I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and wish you all a happy & prosperous New Year.

The world's largest project of its kind (COCP that is) has trundled along during 2006, just like it has during the previous five years. We have just one piece of the 1861 left to do and that is with a checker right now. The 1871 is about 60% done and the 1881 is edging up to 20%. The spotlight of my attention has shifted to the 1851 (sounds a bit naff that). There are 20 parishes or bits of parishes left to do. Most are pretty small and I am hoping that all those working on the 1851 will crack on.

At the beginning of 2006 we had 1,117,534 records uploaded to Free Census - at the end of the year we had 1,454,770. Quite an achievement; my thanks to everyone.

On the wider front, Free Census now has just under 9 million records online with the COCP contributing 16%. A third English county (Wiltshire) has uploaded its first 1841 piece. The Cornish parish register project (C-PROP) has gone through the 460,000 record mark.

NWOCP Newsletter No 4

2007-01-02T01:57:00.000-08:00

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas and wish you all a happy & prosperous New Year.

The world's largest project of its kind (Free Census that is) has trundled along during 2006, just like it has during the previous five years. Our project has done rather better than most of the other English projects. At the beginning of 2006 we had 15,000 records uploaded to Free Census - at the end we have 73,000+!!!! Quite an achievement; my thanks to everyone.

Of course, we have rather more than that on our own web site. Last month we uploaded the first 1841 Hundred. There are only three English 1841 projects and the other two are complete. 1841 parishes are rolling in on a daily basis; I hope that everyone working on the 1861 & 1871 is encouraged by this and will be cracking on!

Our web site is also carrying some returns from outside Nth Wilts as Terry clears his backlog.

Cornish 1851 Project update

2007-01-02T01:41:00.000-08:00

Hello folks

Another grandson - the only one bearing my surname!

Here is the status of the 1851 project. If your name is on here and it shouldn't be, please let me know. If it should be on and isn't - let me known. If you are doing a piece that isn't listed here - let me know.

Trying to be realalistic, this looks about 3 months work to me. Be nice to be proved wrong again!

Virginstow Ho5a1896 Being transcribed by Sandra Coles

St Giles OTH Ho5b1896 Being transcribed by Julia Bassett

Lanteglos by Camelford HO5h1898 Being transcribed by Trudi Groves.

Maker HO5a1900 Being transcribed by Gillian Johnson.

Rame Ho5b1900 being checked by Ken Hosking

Menheniot Ho5a1902. Being checked by Arthur Hodge

St Cleer Ho5b1902 Being transcribed by Bill Phillips

St Neot Ho5d1902 Being transcribed by Ainslie Jones

Duloe Ho5b1903 Being transcribed by Caroline Buckland

Morval Ho5c1903 Being transcribed by Nick Russell

East Looe Ho5m1903 Being transcribed by Mike Beck.

West Looe Ho5n1903 being transcribed by Joan Oliver

St Blazey Ho5d1906 Being checked by Maxine Cadzow

St Stephen in B Ho5e1908 Being checked by Frances Kenshole

St Mewan Ho5f1908 Being checked by Mark Jose.

St Stithians Ho5a1914 Being transcribed by Luke Harris.

Gwennap Ho5b1914 Being transcribed by Lauren Patey.

Redruth Ho5a1915 Being checked by Peter Veryan; Di Thompson; John Nance

Gwinear Ho5b1916 Being checked by Jean Minter.

The Cornish 1841 census

2006-12-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

In the West Briton in late May 1841, a series of articles appeared entitled "Hints respecting the new census, to be taken on Monday 7th June" The writer is not identified but the way it is phrased suggests he is not a member of the authorities. I have only quoted parts of it on the grounds of size.

1. The best mode of taking a census is by a map and a register. On the map, the situation of houses only should be marked. Every house should be numbered, and then a register of every inmate made. The commissioners have adopted the plan of a register, and arranged an expensive machinery for taking it, but the form is very imperfect. It is to be written in pencil. Ages above 15 are to be entered thus - at 29, put 25, if 34, put 30, and soon. If a person has two Christian names, only one is to be inserted. The county where born is to be recorded, but not the parish, which the Act also requires. Such a register will be of little use. At the same cost one might be taken which would ensure an accurate census, and might be useful for many purposes in a parish till the decennial enumeration of 1851. A register of this kind was prepared in 1831 for a large parish in this county, and has been of great service ever since.

8. Instructions to the registrars and Enumerators have been issued by the commissioners, together with the householder's schedule. A copy of the latter is to be left at every dwelling the week before the 7th of June. 3,600,000 copies of it have been printed. The enumerators will do well, though they have the choice of employing an agent, to distribute these schedules themselves, as they will thereby become better acquainted with the extent and condition of their respective districts.

9. No instructions have as yet been given in the Superintendent Registrars, to whom the schedules and register books are to be finally brought. There appears, however, to be no intention of forming a summary of them for each parish and union before they are transmitted to London. Persons interested in the statistics of the county should bear this in mind, and endeavour to secure a summary for the use of the public in Cornwall before the documents are all sent away. It may be that otherwise they will have to wait a twelvemonth before the results are made known. [from here, the print becomes distorted]

10. It is very desirable that each Enumerator should provide for himself a map of his own district. This cannot be a [choice]... [article then continued that circles should be drawn, and numbered to indicate 1 house with 7 persons, or 56 houses with 268 persons, maintaining the system would then include all dwellings, not just those in towns and villages.]

16. A circular has been addressed by the commissioners to the clergy, requesting their co-operation in taking the census. Though it comes late, it will, no doubt, meet with due attention. A short note on the subject appeared in the last Ecclesiastical Gazette, and from the extensive circulation of that paper many may be lead thereby to examine the plan proposed, and to aid it by their advice and direction. No time should be lost; the business should be undertaken at once, during the next week, through the medium of committees, or by giving personal assistance to the enumerators.

19. On Monday next, the 7th of June, an attempt will again be made to form a Speculum Britannice, or mirror of the inhabitants as to their condition and locality, when they arise from their slumbers on the morning of that day, to give an exact picture of the then living generation, and to perpetuate a description of it for present and future use. This will be found no easy task - it will require all the assistance which the appointed officers, the local societies, the clergy, and others can give to render it complete as a national work. The institutions at Falmouth, Truro, Tavistock, Plymouth, and elsewhere should be on the alert. A statistical view of eight miles round St. Andrew's church, Plymouth, showing, inter alia, how the population is located, as well on the water as on the land, would be a valuable present to the British Association on their meeting at that beautiful harbour in August.

20. The enumerators will do well to keep for their own use and future reference a correct copy of their register, which they need not deliver over for a week, till Monday the 14th of June. Attention should be paid to the queries at the end of the registers whilst they perambulate their districts, as it may otherwise be found difficult on their return to prepare answers to them. The clergy are to transmit the abstracts of burials from 1831 to 1840, from the parish registers to the Bishop, on Monday, 21st of June. It is recommended to preserve in each parish a summary of the return.

Transcribing for Free Census

2006-12-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

The problems encountered by transcribers can be divided roughly into two groups. Those concerned with the mechanics of FC transcribing; layout etc. And those concerned with making sense of what is written down by the enumerators.

One of the easiest ways of dealing with the mechanics of the task, is to sit back at the end of each page and each ED and look at what you have done. Most of the fields have defaults. In some cases, fields can be blank as a default, but many must have something in them. The county of birth column for instance, Col T, must have a 3-digit code from the Chapman code entered. You cannot leave it blank. Well, you can, but it will then surface as a mistake when I reformat it for checking. If you take a long slow look at each page, you should be able to see where things are missing.

My own personal preference is to transcribe vertically. I do the personal names first, then the surnames, then work to the right, always going down the page. Finally I fill in those details required to the left of the surname. I flag things up as I go if I am uncertain; I also change the text colour to red. If I leave notes, I try to write the sort of thing I write when validating. I have mixed feelings about autofill; but I am a touch typist which makes it easy to type, rather than clicking on the autofill selection. You have to watch the autofill, checkers have complained that people are selecting it without checking it is what they really want.

There is little to be done about the enumerator's writing except hope that you will get better at reading it; or you'll reach the end of the ED and the next one will be better. You can try and improve the image by manipulating it with IrfanView or Photoshop. However, you can also edit what you have done and the fact that personal and place names are often repeated might give you a chance to take a second look at what you have done.

One thing everyone should do is ask themselves - is what I have transcribed sensible? Recently I had a piece where the address was transcribed as "1uoodfbock". Not once, but three times. The transcriber flagged it up. In fact, it was "Woodstock". How many words are there that end in "ood"? Not many.

There are also things you can use to help you sort problems out. The first is Google. Both place & personal names may be detected by Google. Then there are the census returns on line. In Cornwall, most parishes now have 4 sets of census returns online and Wiltshire will slowly build up to at least three sets per parish. There are online gazetteers and sites that list old occupations. However, if you can read what is written, then don't waste time, just type it in. I don't mind you leaving me a note and in some cases it might make it onto the database.

I can see from the notes that many people are worried by the relationships given. Sons that look as though they should be grandsons. However, that is not our problem. Our task is to get down what is written, not correct it. By the way, "son in law" had a rather different meaning in the 19th century. It might have been more correct to say "son by law", and we would say stepson.

One trap that is very easy to fall in to, is to correct the enumerator's words. We are committed to reproducing the exact words the enumerator used. If he is wrong - tough! We have a golden rule "AS IS". If you stick to that, you can't be wrong.

Remember that this is a system. Transcriber, checker, validator and post validator. Transcribers should try and combine speed with accuracy. Don't spend hours over one word; give it your best shot and move on, flagging it up if you are unhappy.

Good luck!

This week in Cornwall

2006-11-16T13:35:00.000-08:00

Here in Cornwall, we are always looking for new ways of doing things. We are also very conscious of the past - we are sort of moving forward into the past.

Until about 1850, there was a treadmill in Bodmin Gaol; there were other gaols in the county that also had them. Criminals would be sent there for a few weeks to while away their days turning a treadmill. Usually, this was for minor offences such as being drunk and disorderly. This was in the days of course, when you could be hung for stealing a sheep, or even worse, sent to Australia!

We have just as much disorderly behavour on our streets now as we did then, perhaps more. In 1850 there were very few people from England taking their holidays here. If any.

So, the authorities have decided to re-introduce the treadmill. It has two main advantages as a punishment. It is cheap. Criminals will live at home; have to make their own way to the treadmill and bring their own food and drink. The treadmills will be linked to banks of batteries that will provide power for the lights and for boiling the kettle for the supervisors.

In the 19th century, the treadmills were used to grind flour and this week a deal has been struck with a well known organic biscuit maker. His name is a commercial secret but think feathers..... Just imagine, not only organic, but hand-ground flour. Well, foot-ground anyway.

Of course, there might be people who get in the wheel and refuse to walk. A small amount of electrical power will get the wheel moving, when it will become very uncomfortable to refuse to walk.

In fact, I say walk, but many people will be running. The person who completes the most miles in each day will get one day knocked off their sentence! Of course, there will some sort of handicapping system so that little old men will have a chance.

The first bank of wheels will be in a well known seaside resort and it is hoped that the building will incorporate a viewing gallery, entry to which will incur a small charge.

NWOCP Newsletter No 3

2006-11-11T03:05:00.000-08:00

Hello Folks

I have been a little remiss with these newsletters just lately. Partly summer visitors, partly computer problems (self inflicted) and partly biting off more than I could chew.

However, things are rolling along and we have recruited several new people, including one this morning. Some people have completed their task and left; others have dropped out for various reasons.

1861. We have 22 pieces to do; 4 are online; 2 are being checked; another 4 are waiting for a checker to appear and the rest are with transcribers.

1871. 32 pieces to do; 6 online; 7 being checked; another 5 transcribed and waiting for a checker; the rest are all with transcribers.

1841. 12 Hundreds to do. All are being worked on and 5 have some parishes complete and online. The 1841 is being done and uploaded by parish. One Hundred is nearly finished, when I shall stitch the parishes together and upload it to Free Census.

1891. 4 pieces online; one being transcribed. There is another piece partly transcribed. The transcribers for this were an Australian couple who have worked for me on the Warwickshire project for six years. Dick was diagnosed with cancer and died in less than two months. A real blow to me, even though I had never met him.

Don't forget to visit my blog on http://medeschole.blogspot.com/ now and again. Although it is called Cornish Census Returns, much of it is equally applicable to our project. This will be posted on it this morning.

And of course, you could check out our own web site - have a gloat!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support. Keep them coming!

Rgds

Michael
Organiser, Nth Wilts Online Census Project
http://www.pope-genealogy.me.uk/nwocp.htm

British early census returns

2006-11-05T02:15:00.000-08:00

The arrangements for the taking of a decennial census were set out in a Parliamentary act in 1800, but there had been discussions on the necessity of taking a census for many years. At the time of the first census, in 1801, the country was at war. We had had several bad harvests and maritime conditions were unstable. Many of the agricultural workers were in the Army or at sea. The government needed to find out how many people lived in Britain, what they were doing and where they were doing it.

The first census consisted of six questions. The first 3 were to be answered by house-to-house enquiry on 10 March 1801, or as soon as possible after that date. These questions established how many dwellings, how many people and what occupations they had.

The next two questions were addressed to the local clergy asking how many baptisms, burials & marriages had taken place. These covered the period back to 1700 in the case of baptisms and burials and back to 1754 for marriages.

The final question just asked if there was anything else the respondents would like to say.

The government sent out printed forms and the whole exercise was supervised by the Overseers of the Poor or “other substantial householders”.

The results consisted of numerical totals and did not include names. However, some local returns still survive giving names. The returns were affirmed before local Justices of the Peace by a certain date. They then went up the chain to the Home Office in London. The answers given by the clergy followed a different route and ended up with the Privy Council.

In 1811, the census asked the same questions, but with knobs on. It distinguished between uninhabited & building dwellings. The question about occupation was also amended. The clergy were asked to record the numbers of baptisms, marriages and burials registered in each of the ten years since the last census.

In 1821, additional questions were asked about the ages of the people. These were grouped in five year bands up to 20 & in 10 year bands after that.

In 1831 more extensive questions about occupations were asked. There were seven categories. Agricultural, manufacturing, retail or handicraft, capitalists, mines & fishermen, retired or disabled and finally, those employed as servants.

In addition, the clergy were asked to indicate the number of illegitimate children born in 1830.

In 1841 changes were made that are, in essence, still with us today. The returns included, for the first time, the names of the respondents. The carrying out of the census was handed over to the General Registration Office and the census was organised on tbe basis of the new poor law administrative districts.

The story of the British censuse is one of gradual change. It is also a story of a struggle between those who wanted to keep it simple (Home Office, GRO etc) and those who wanted to ask as many questions as possible. These latter including various scientific and social institutions as well as government departments. This struggle continues, as could be seen in the UK press last week.

Free Census checking software

2006-11-01T05:26:00.000-08:00

Yet another volunteer checker struggling to get the checking software to work! We have repeatedly asked Free Census to sort it out but its like talking to a rather dim brick wall.

Here is a simplified way to do it:

Download WINCC

Save to desktop

Double click on icon

Unzip into c:\wincc. This folder will be the one suggested by WINCC. Say yes to creating a shortcut, it will take you to Windows Explorer. Drag the shortcut icon to your desktop.

Open WINCC & follow the instructions. Enter personal details - 4-digit code, first two letters of surname & first two letters of forename.

WINCC will then want to test the external drive. Normally it would expect to use the A drive, the floppy drive. If you don't have one, but you do have other removable media drives, WINCC will say it has detected more than one removable drive. Removable in the sense that you can put media in yourself.

Select one of these, but you must have something in the drive. Perhaps the best option is to plug your digital camera in and try selecting that drive. You must restart WINCC after plugging the camera in.

If you don't have any removable drives, then WINCC will just ignore the test requirement.

Once WINCC has a drive, it will create a small TEST directory. You can open this and play with it.

When you open WINCC you get the first record overlaid with the first household panel. You must tab through all fields on this household panel to get to the first record. You must check as you tab on both types of record. The second field is Ecclesiastical parish. If there isn't one, then enter a hyphen.

Don't spend a lot of time with the TEST directory, import the data zip under Options and try it out. You can import from the floppy drive A, or there is a folder in WINCC called ZIP. Copy the still zipped data file to that folder and import from there.

Remember that you can re-install WINCC and re-import the data file if things go wrong.

Pay particular attention to the BROWSE button; it will allow you to insert records, split households ect. Right clicking on the BROWSE screen brings up help.

This week in Cornwall

2006-10-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

Quite an exciting week in Cornwall!

On Thursday there was an earthquake roughly along the valley of the river Tamar. Cornwall is now an island! Associated with this on Thursday evening, a tidal wave swept in at Hayle – and West Penwith is also an island.

Temporary bridges will be placed over the Tamar chasm at the main former crossing points. There will a toll on traffic entering Cornwall with the money being used to reduce Council Taxes. Council Tax payers will be exempt from these charges. The King Harry ferry will serve West Penwith till we can afford a bridge.

A new swinging tax on holiday homes will be introduced next Wednesday. The money raised this way will be used to reduce Council Taxes.

The NHS institutions in Cornwall are to be controlled by a new governing body. Membership will be restricted to Council Tax payers and they will be elected by Council Tax payers.

Institutions of Higher Learning in Cornwall will be grouped together, although on dispersed sites, and will become the University of Cornwall. The Universities of Exeter & Plymouth will be told to mind their own business.

In future, anybody living full time in Cornwall and paying Council Tax will be entitled to claim they are Cornish. The rest will be known as “the English”.

Anybody suggesting that road signs etc should be bi-lingual will be asked to sign a legally binding form that commits them to paying for the changes.

The new French toxic waste plant will be moved to England. We shall use our rubbish to enlarge the Scillies.

COCP Newsletter No 16

2006-10-18T04:32:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

Sun is out in Cornwall; off up the garden for a cup of coffee and a cigar. Might even do some gardening.

If you imagine the COCP as an inverted triangle, we have transcribers at the top, forming the base, then checkers in the middle, then, right at the bottom, me. All pieces are validated by me. I like it this way, although it means a lot of work, because it gives me control of the project and allows the imposition of a certain style. If something is wrong, I can ensure that it's like that on all the returns - wrong that is!

There are two aspects to the errors I see. Firstly, there are some rather depressing repetitious ones. Irish county Chapman codes for instance. Secondly, there is the sheer ingenuity displayed by many volunteers, in inventing new problems. Congratulations!

I am just doing a Truro piece. There is a Mr James who is a Coal Merchant. Next door is another Mr James. This gentleman is a Cod Merchant. It certainly looks like Cod, but neither the transcriber or checker have flagged it up, so presumably they thought that in 19th century Truro it would be likely there was a Cod Merchant. Seems a bit specialised to me, so I changed it to Coal. In fact, the letter "d" often looks like "ol" or "al".

I might be wrong of course; if anyone knows of other Cod Merchants, let me know.

What other things have attracted my attention? If you want to put RN in the occupation field, please put a space between the R & the N, otherwise you'll upset the Fishheads by getting Rn.

Don't put in unnecessary notes. If you are unsure of a surname, a note on the head's record is good enough. I have to delete or edit all these notes.

Don't put in unnecessary flags. If there is no place of birth; then people are correctly entering UNK hyphen and then spoiling it by flagging it up.

Do use Google. I have just decoded a place name in Devon. The transcriber & checker quite rightly had it as Whitechurch Csquiggle. It is probably Whitechurch (or Whitchurch) Canonicorum. Google knew.

After validation it goes to Rick Parsons for post-validation. This is to remove all the errors that have survived the 3-stage process; a surprising number. He has asked me to point out to checkers that they are responsible for entering the Ecclesiastical Parish name. You must look at the top right hand entry on each page. Quite often, they change during a piece. If there isn't one, then enter a hyphen.

Finally (thank goodness you say!), please do drop me a line telling me how you are getting on. I hate it when I find out that someone has volunteered to do something but in fact, they have decided not to bother. I had someone the other day who thought I would have picked it up from the mailing list that he was off on his holidays and had therefore decided not to do any transcription!

Enough whinging. We are doing well; the end of the 1861 is in sight, followed by the 1851. Free Census has 8.5 million records online and 15% or more of those are ours. Congratulations to you all!

I apologise for the length of this!

Newsletter No 15

2006-10-01T00:49:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

Free Census rebuilt their database on 11th October. We have:

Cornwall 1841 340901
Cornwall 1851 235008
Cornwall 1861 337103
Cornwall 1871 126063
Cornwall 1881 35116
Cornwall 1891 318637
Cornish total 1392828

This is 16.5% of the total FC upload of 8,454,662 returns.

As you will all know, we also have a search engine on the COCP web site. Here are the some of the stats for September.

Warwickshire Farewell

2006-09-30T01:16:00.000-07:00

It is six years since, encouraged by the easy start-up of the Cornish 1891 project, I decided to run a similar project for the Warwickshire 1891 returns. At first, the project only covered the districts of Aston and Birmingham, because all my ancestral lines lived in Aston from 1845 onwards. But gradually, the project grew till it covered the whole of Warwickshire – 122 “pieces” that eventually produced about 780,000 records.

Each record has been transcribed, checked, validated and generally buffed up; finally being uploaded to Free Census and to the Warwickshire web site run by Pickard Trepess. Each piece was produced from a 3 or 4 fiche set, loaned to me by the Church of Latter-Day Saints of Jesus Christ – the LDS or Mormons. Transcribers, living anywhere from Hong Kong to Vancouver via Australia and New Zealand, transcribed the contents of the fiche set to produce a data file that was then sent to a checker. The checkers worked their way through the data, identifying and fixing errors. Finally, I validated the work, ending up with a data file for uploading to Free Census. This file also went to Pickard to convert to html for his web pages.

About 150 people worked on the project and a list will be published shortly. I would like to particularly mention Jeanagh Punter, who for several years worked as the project recruiter and Pickard, who not only produces the html files and hosts the web site, but for the early years was an invaluable help with “technical” issues. I do have another list, luckily a lot shorter, of those people who vanished with the microfiche set. I won’t publish that. An even sadder list is of the five people who died “in harness”; one of them only a couple of weeks ago. This last one, an Australian, had worked on the project from the very beginning. I owe him, and all the other the other volunteers, a great debt.

What now? First I shall cut a disc containing the data and send it to the Mormons, The National Archives and the Archive of Historical Data at the University of Essex. I might also send a copy to the various societies engaged in Warwickshire family history; although none of them have ever shown the slightest interest in the project. Then I shall settle down to a slow steady review of the lot – to try and eliminate some of the uncertainties and to incorporate the corrections that kind people have emailed in.

I am not going to do any more Warwickshire census returns, but I wish the organiser of the 1861 project all the best and hope that someone somewhere will be encouraged enough by my words to start up the 1871 project! Better than watching television!

Public Relations No 3

2006-09-29T02:31:00.000-07:00

The Cornwall online Census Project aims to transcribe all the Cornish 19th century census returns and make them accessible online free of charge. You’ll find the complete 1841 and 1891 censuses for Cornwall already online at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kayhin/ukocp.html as is 83 per cent of the 1851 census, 96 per cent of the 1861, 35 per cent of the 1871, and seven per cent of the 1881. There area also three pieces (donated and unchecked) for the 1901 census.

Most of the transcribed records are also available at http://www.freecen.org.uk/ – the Free Census Project site.

The Online Parish Clerk scheme began in Cornwall about five years ago and has spread to Cumberland & Westmorland, Devon, Dorset, Kent, Lancashire, Sussex, Warwickshire and Wiltshire. Volunteers adopt one or more parishes and collect family history information about the parishes, offering free ‘look-ups’ for researchers.

You can now search a combined database at http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/ which contains around 330,000 records from the Cornish OPCs. At present, the information is mainly from Church of England parish registers, but Nonconformist registers and other records are expected to be included in the future.

Four volunteers are currently transcribing births, marriages and deaths from the 19th century West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser newspaper, plus court cases. Go to http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wbritonad/cornwall/intro.html to view the transcripts.

[Published in the October 2006 edition of Practical Family History magazine]

Public Relations No 2

2006-09-29T02:03:00.000-07:00

Cornwall is an unusual English county, not least because many people will tell you that it is not English or a county! It is also unusual in that it is further advanced towards becoming fully online, as far as family history research is concerned. As the organiser of the Cornwall Online Census project I thought I would let other readers know what online resources are available to Cornish researchers.

At the centre of Cornish online research are the Cornish GENUKI pages (http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/). These provide links to anything and everything to do with Cornish family history. The pages are organised on a hierarchical basis and lead to some 260 town and parish pages and some more general pages. Normally GENUKI aims to use the county and parishes as they were in 1850 but these Cornish pages also include new parishes created towards the end of the 19th century. The Cornish GENUKI pages are constantly being updated, so it is worth checking them frequently.

We started the Cornwall Online Census Project in the summer of 2000, transcribing the 1891 returns from fiche supplied by the LDS. Within 18 months the first returns were online having gone through the process of transcription, checking and validation. By 1st July this year the 1841 and 1891 censuses were complete along with 90 per cent of the 1851 & 1861; 40 per cent of the 1871; and ten per cent of the 1881). The aim of the project is to transcribe all the Cornish 19th census returns and place them online free-to-view at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kayhin/ukocp.html.

We also have an online parish clerk scheme, which started in Cornwall about four years ago and has now spread to half a dozen other counties. Volunteers adopt a parish or parishes and seek to accumulate information and data about their parish. Their primary aim is to offer free “look ups” for researchers, using via the Cornish mailing lists. The OPC scheme has now launched its own searchable online “free-to-view” database (http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/). Starting just over a month ago it already has over a quarter of a million records online. At present it is concentrating on Church of England registers, but its scope will expand to cover non-conformist registers and other types of data (burials for example).

There are two Cornish mailing lists. The main Cornish list, Cornish-L, is for all things Cornish, while Cornish-GEN is a list strictly for family history. The Cornish-L list is home to the famous (or infamous) virtual Christmas party! Details of how to subscribe can be found at Rootsweb.

[published in November 2006 edition of Family History Monthly]

Public Relations No 1

2006-09-29T01:57:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

I have just managed to get pieces about Cornwall online activities published in two of the three main UK family history magazines. Both pieces will follow this one. The first one was published as a letter; the second as a small piece. Both pieces are edited versions of my text.

My aim in this is twofold. First of all - there is no point in our doing all this work, if no one knows about it. Secondly, it might recruit more people to help us in our great task.

My aim in publishing the pieces on here is to encourage you all to try your hand in your own countries. Most of the English speaking world now enjoys any number of paper and electronic FH magazines. You don't have to slavishly lift my words, feel free to edit or rewrite as you see fit. But do have a go.

Don't forget to let me know if you have any success.

Rgds

Michael

Newsletter No 14

2006-09-27T01:21:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

In addition to taking a week's holiday, I am also struggling with computer problems. All my own fault as well. Much of the information I need access to is on the computer that is now in hospital; and as I expect it back every day, I haven't bothered to install it on this machine.

In spite of things generally, a considerable amount of work has been completed. Some five 1851 parishes have gone, or are about to go, online. Plus a similiar number of 1871 pieces and a couple of 1881. The 1861 is on its last three pieces.

On the wider scene, I have just finished the last of the 122 Warwickshire 1891 pieces. Only took six years. 780,000 records, all transcribed and online, for free.

I am hoping that the 1861 will be finished by the end of the year, followed soon after by the 1851.

It would be nice to hear from everyone!

COCP General Instructions Pt 2

2006-09-07T04:22:00.000-07:00

Project transcription software.

You are transcribing from discs lent to us by the LDS. The copyright is quite clear. Copyright in the images and contents of UK census returns is held by the Crown. The Crown has waived its copyright for the contents and licensed the copying of the images for commercial profit. Any transcription is the copyright of the transcriber, given that the Crown has waived its copyright. The transcriber can do with it what he or she likes, including giving it to Free Census. We have that in writing from the PRO.

Each transcriber will be supplied with five files. Three are browser files and tell you everything you need to know! There are also two spreadsheet files. Any spreadsheet will do. CENSDEMO shows you what your spreadsheet should look like when you have got going. The other is your working spreadsheet. This is a templated spreadsheet whose main effect is to prevent transcribers exceeding the set column widths.

If you are an Apple user or do not have a floppy drive, please contact me before you try start work.

When you open this spreadsheet, you will see that the first three rows are completed for you. The first has the piece number, the second has the column headings, the third lots of lower case letters. These are there to indicate to you the maximum width you are to work to in each column. These three rows must be left intact. The spreadsheet supplied is designed to stop you exceeding this column width.

It can be saved as a spreadsheet but as it gets larger you may need to do your backups as .csv files. Tell me if you do not know about csv formatting. You should do regular backups to floppies or some other medium. Please do not omit this precaution.

Bill O'Reilly will also conduct a ‘health’ check on your first six or so pages. Please do this because not only is it easier to catch mistakes early on, but it will let us know you have actually started. Just email your file to him. You can request these health checks at any time.

You will be allocated a piece to do although the disc supplied may have several pieces on it. This piece will have up to 3,000 records on some 150 pages. 1861 pieces are larger than those of the 1871. However, some of these pages will contain little or no data to be transcribed. How you do it is up to you. You can transcribe direct into the software or to paper.

COCP Newsletter No 13

2006-08-28T02:58:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

The grandchildren have all gone; covered in salt, sweat & sand. Well, I was. They had their first taste of surf school and have already checked that they can come again next year. Throwing out the empties made me realise that we had also drunk a lot of wine! The adults not the grandchildren.

It has been reported that spring in Europe this year was about 4 weeks early - except for SW England, where it was on time. There is a faint touch of autumn about the weather at the moment in Cornwall - which suggests to me that Autumn is 4 weeks early!

Now I am up to my neck in census returns; Cornish, North Wilts AND Warwickshire. As Rick is away till later this week, nothing will be published for a couple of weeks.

A few pointers. Did you know that if you write RN in the occupation field, it will come out as Rn? You must have a space to make it capitalise. Text in the notes field does not capitalise. If you don't put in the capital letters, then you will get r n and I will have to alter it.

Some people are overdoing the abbreviations. You have 29 spaces, please use them. So "a" for acres, but 1m can be entered in full. It looks better, or at least, I think it does. If you are using a templated spreadsheet, then you only have 22 spaces for occupation. One of these days I will fix that. You can always use the notes field, but I would rather you got it all in the occupation field, as long as it makes sense and looks nice!

Indicates of rank etc, Esquire, Lord, Senior and Junior, are all entered after the forename. (Esq), (Lord), (Snr) & (Jnr) and so on.

I am going to publish the General Instructions on this blog, starting now. Please re-read them, especially the paragraphs on place born.

Rgds

Michael

NWOCP Newsletter No 3

2006-08-06T00:23:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

Greetings from Cornwall, where the summer visitor is in full flood (see earlier COCP newsletter).

In our 8th month now and we are starting to see a steady flow of completed pieces. We have done and put online:

RG091275 Cricklade
RG101876 Highworth
RG101877 Highworth
RG101901 Calne
Rg101902 Calne
RG101904 Marlborough
RG101905 Marlborough.

Almost all the 1861 & 1871 pieces are being worked on, with a number being checked. Our first 1891 piece has been transcribed and I have a checker lined up for that. About a dozen 1841 parishes are transcribed and as soon as I can find some more checkers I will start pushing the 1841 for completion. Free Census have now produced the data file required for checking.

All our work is going online on http://www.pope-genealogy.me.uk/nwocp.htm and on the main Free Census online database. Please take a look at our web site and browse the stuff on this blog - there might be something for you!

Recently, a couple of volunteers have recruited relatives and friends; if you know someone who might be interested, please get them to drop me a line.

Advice for transcribers

2006-08-05T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

Recently I asked two of our most experienced checkers for some general advice for transcribers. The second checker's comments are in brackets. They have both just finished very large 1851 pieces.

1. Since the programme (Excel) has a memory function, they should be careful using it. The transcriber must have spelled 'Louisa' as 'Lousia' the first time and never bothered to look at what he/she was typing after that. In the same way 'Ellen' showed up as 'Ellen Ann' after that.

2. Do use the resources of the net, et cetera when coming upon a strange name. I constantly had to go to 1841 or 1861 or 1881 to make corrections of names that were not all that difficult to read. [Michael: I use Google a lot, it will often give hits on place & personal names]

3. Be aware of gender - I often had a Francis, son, given as Female. (I find that if the transcriber misreads a name, then the rest of the tx'd data is often wrongly adjusted to match the misreading eg relationship & gender.)

4. Check birth towns. There is no Bugle in Cornwall but there is a Breage. [Michael: Six miles from where I am sitting is a village called Bugle!!!!!] (I just keep the GENUKI big/eng page open and refer to that. If it says Bugle CON, then it'll get checked as Bugle CON.)

5. If a transcriber comes upon an unreadable name and three lines later the same name is now written more clearly, go back and make the correction to the name instead of leaving the job to the checker.

6. If a transcriber wants to type in a wife's occupation as 'miner' or 'fisherman', he/she should realize that the occupation has probably been transcribed to the wrong person. (yes ... but if it's what the enumerator wrote (as is sometimes the case) then so be it.)

7. Do use software, where possible, to improve the quality of the original page - I use Adobe Photoshop to sharpen and improve the contrast. (Never yet needed to do it, but agree. With a flat screen you can often view it off angle to achieve some change of colour/contrast etc.)

(8. Quite often I find lines are transposed or translated mid-line (maths term ie shifted) ... I'm guessing that the transcriber is going down the page in columns, and I'm checking left to right. But it is a real pain with WINCC to put the lines back together again.) [Michael: This might be my fault - as I often advise transcribers to transcribe vertically]

(9. Also it might seem obvious but married couples usually tend to have similar ages with children aged at least 20 years less than the younger of the two. Yes I know there are exceptions, but it does beg a double check when transcribing.)

(10. Servants, lodgers, boarders, visitors, in-laws etc usually have a different surname to the main household.)

(But I do pity anyone battling with the fiche scans of 1851. They're very variable. Ancestry's done a much better job scanning at least, though their index is a little fanciful at times.)

COCP Newsletter No 12

2006-08-05T03:45:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

First wave of grandchildren leave tomorrow morning; second wave arrives on Monday afternoon; 3rd wave the following Sunday. Even so, we have managed to keep the show on the road.

We are now down to the last five pieces of the 1861; might be finished in October. 25 of the 235 1851 parishes remain to be completed and about half the 1871. More of the 1881 is now being tackled, with a couple of new checkers arriving.

I would like to remind everyone that our aim is to reproduce what the enumerator wrote - "as is". Not what he should have wrote (it is nearly always a him); but what he actually wrote. If he has a 70 year-old woman with a five-year old son don't bother to flag it up or write me a note that it is obviously not a son.

On place of birth names, someone pointed out to me recently that it would be difficult to search for a parish name on the Free Census OLDB, because many of our transcripts (although "as is") have variations on the modern names. I am afraid that we are between a rock and a hard place on this one. Because we also put our returns online as texts, we don't believe this is an unsurmountable problem for researchers. And it is nice to leave them something to do......

Is everyone aware of C-PROP on http://www.cornwall-opc.org/search/ ? Currently it has 326,931 parish records online - all FREE! We are concentrating on CoE records at the moment, but have also started to extract the data from the West Briton project. If you have any transcripts - why not send them in - we will sort them out for uploading.

This project is built on the use of emails. You can, and should, be dropping Kay or myself or both of us, an occasional line saying how things are going. Don't leave us in the dark. There is also the alternative of using Instant Messaging. There is an earlier piece on this blog about jabber. Try it out and you might get an instant response. You can use it for census queries or anything else. Do I, for instance, know your great aunt Ethel? You never know.....

If you have tried Google Earth, it has recently released v4. It has a really nice shot of Mitchell, my home village; you can almost see me waving from the top of my jungle (garden)

Rgds

Michael

COCP Newsletter No 11

2006-07-20T23:22:00.000-07:00

Thick mist in my part of Cornwall and I am about to depart for England. About 7 hours of motoring misery - and that is only if I am lucky. Back online on Monday morning.

This week saw a couple of pieces uploaded, several more are in post validation and I have three pieces here ready to be validated. As I am going to England to pick up a couple of grandchildren, census returns are likely to be stacked for now!

Currently, we are within a month or so of completing the 1861, with only five pieces left to do. The 1851 won't be far behind and the 1871 is approaching 50%. This week we recruited three more people. They all want to be transcribers, but we don't have work for them. We are now in the end game period of the whole Cornish project - not just the 61 & 51. More and more volunteers must be persuaded to switch to checking; there are already plenty of 1871 pieces waiting for checking.

The big task is the 1881. We have a transcript of the whole of the Cornish 1881; it just needs checking. So everyone who sticks with us will have to try their hand at checking. You might ask why we are doing the 1881. Well, wonderful though the LDS version is, we are finding mistakes as we compare our transcript with theirs. Anyway - there is question of symetry! How nice to have the whole of the Cornish 19th century returns online!

Checking is less painful than transcribing - and I have tried both! You have to tab through each field of each record, looking closely at the transcriber's work. If you find mistakes - and you will - you fix them. If you can't, you flag them up for me to look at during validation. Checking is a vital part of the project and has to be done properly. It is not difficult - just hard on the tab key!

So - be prepared - a grovelling email will arrive one day asking that you volunteer to try checking.

The Free Census database was rebuilt on July 12th and the Cornish volunteers remain by far the biggest contributors to the nearly 8 million records now online.

Onwards and Upwards!

NWOCP Newsletter No 2

2006-07-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

We now have our own web site (http://www.pope-genealogy.me.uk/nwocp.htm) courtesy of John Pope. On this you can see those pieces that we have completed – four 1871 and one 1861. The 60 or so pieces that make up the Nth Wilts coverage for those two years are all being worked on.

Most of the 1841 for Nth Wilts is also being tackled, with a steady flow of parishes arriving from transcribers. Finally, three people, equipped with microfiche readers, are working on the 1891.

Several people have joined the project this week, but we can always use more. If you have friends or family who would like to help out – drop me a line.

The next hurdle is to get the necessary data file constructed by Free Census, so that I can get checkers to work on the 1841. These will be posted by parish to our own web site.

Please stay in touch; don’t leave me in the dark!

COCP Newsletter No 10

2006-07-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

Ann & Michael

This picture has nothing much to do with anything!

Slow week on the census front this week, with nothing much happening. So I have been busy with C-PROP stuff - the new Cornish Parish Registers project. Over a quarter of a million records online and rising.

If anyone wants to drop me a line and tell me your woes or good news - please do so!

Rgds

Michael

The COCP and Birth place data

2006-07-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

The guiding principle of the COCP is to transcribe “as is”. When applied to the place of birth data, this produces a slight problem. Many of the Cornish place names have a number of variations in spelling. St Hilary is a good example; there are about six different ways of spelling it and they can all come with or without the “St”. However, we are not conducting family history research; we are providing a tool for those people who are. They ought to be able to work out what the place name is on their own.

The book I often quote, by Edward Higgs, says that Cornwall is particularly prone to variations in place name spellings.

The enumerator’s instructions asked that from 1851 onwards, householders state the county and parish or town of birth. Frequently, the place named is a farm or other place, not a parish or town. Sometimes, even a street name or other address is given.

We just transcribe the enumerator’s words.

The enumeration instructions only required the county name for Irish or Scots. If, like me, you have Irish ancestors, this is particularly annoying. Its even worse when they just say Ireland or Scotland. For places like London, where all it says is London, this is treated as a county; just enter LND in the County field and a hyphen for place born.

Now for an innovation – a competition! There will be a prize for the volunteer who can explain to me why no one uses the Chapman codes for Irish Counties. It is not just the COCP volunteers, the Nth Wilts and Warwickshire ones are just the same. I am not sure what the prize will be for the best explanation – I’ll think of something.

Census Birth Place Data

2006-07-11T02:50:00.000-07:00

The quality of the birthplace data in the 1841 census is far from satisfactory. The household schedule contained two columns for this information headed ‘Whether born in the same county’ and ‘Whether born in Scotland, Ireland, or Foreign Parts’. Householders were instructed to write ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in the first column. In the second they were to write ‘Scotland’, ‘Ireland’ or ‘Foreigner’. The latter designation only referred to those born outside the UK who were not British subjects. Those born abroad who were British subjects were to be entered in the firsts column with the word ‘No’. The number of British subjects born outside the UK but resident there in 1841 cannot, therefore, be calculated. The enumerators were instructed to abbreviate these entries when copying them into their enumeration books, using ‘Y’, ‘N’, ‘S’, ‘I’ and ‘F” respectively.

In 1851 more informative answers were required. In the case of those born in England, householders were to indicate first the county, and then the town or parish of birth. This order was to be followed in all subsequent Victorian censuses. In the case of those born in Scotland, Ireland, the British Colonies, the East Indies or Foreign Parts, the country of birth was to be stated. The term ‘British Subject’ was to be added to the latter where appropriate. Interestingly, Wales was not mentioned in the instructions on this matter until 1891, when the principality was treated in the same manner as England. Presumably the Welsh had simply been overlooked, and this may affect the form of some entries. Some other minor changes were introduced in the course of the century. In 1861 a distinction was to be made between ‘British Subject’ and ‘naturalised British Subject’. In 1871 those born in Scotland, Ireland, the British Colonies or the East Indies were to state the country or colony of birth; and those born in Foreign Parts the particular state or country.

One may have doubts as to the extent to which householders understood the instructions with regard to those born outside the UK, but those relating to people born in England, Scotland and Ireland appear fairly straightforward. It may be something of a surprise therefore, to discover that the chief clerk of the GR in 1910 said:

“the birthplace tables were probably the most inaccurate of any of the Census Tables but feared they could not be dispensed with as some people seemed to attach considerable importance to the figures. Not only did a great many people not know in which county they were born but a place which was now a town might easily have been a small village at the time of the birth of persons aged 20 years and upwards who were enumerated in other towns.”

Occasionally the grasp of British geography shown by households and enumerators was not strong. However, the 19th century was a period of great re-organisation in local government, and some changes in the county of birth may reflect boundary changes. There was also a tendency to record the place of residence, or the earliest one which could be remembered, as the place of birth. In institutions such as workhouses there appears to be a propensity on the part of some returning officers to give the location of the institution as the place of birth.

Making Sense of the Census Revisited by Edward Higgs. Copyright TNA

COCP Newsletter No 9

2006-07-02T00:37:00.000-07:00

During June the COCP uploaded three 1861 pieces, ten 1871 & one 1881 piece. Well, it will have any moment now! Another 1861 piece is in the works, which means we are down to the last five pieces of the census out of 89.

There are about 20 parishes of the 1851 left to do, out of over 200. All are being worked on and could be finished soon. We are still recruiting people but are increasingly starting them off on checking rather than transcribing.

This year should see the completion of the 1851 & 61 projects and Rick is already working on the 1861 disc. We are really rolling on the 1871 and should complete that by the middle of next year. The 1881 is a big task, but we have a complete transcription already and if people are willing to move over to checking, it shouldn't take too long.

On the wider front, Free Census managed a rebuild on 24th June and the COCP now has 1,254,528 records online with them. One in seven of the records they have are the product of the COCP and its volunteers. If only the rest of them would get on with as we do!

The Warwickshire 1891 project is nearly complete. The penultimate piece is about to go online, leaving only one piece out of 122 to be completed. The North Wilts project is speeding up with the 4th piece completed and online on its own web site.

The Cornish OPC scheme has its online db up and running with over 200,000 records already uploaded. If any of you have parish register transcripts, why not send them in? 10 or 10,000, all are very welcome.

COCP Newsletter No 8

2006-06-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

The sun is shining in Cornwall! I should be gardening, but when I get up there I just sit and look at it all growing - weeds and plants!

While I have been away you have all been busy - three 1871 pieces and one 1861 have come in. They should all be online in a week or so.

Once a month, Rick produces stats for the COCP search engine. For May it never took less than 200 searches per day, and most well above that, several times hitting 400. This is a good indication of how much your work is being used - which of course, is the whole point.

The sister project of the COCP is C-PROP, the Online Parish Register Project. The database is now up and running and we have started to upload transcripts. At the moment we are trying to restrict use to the OPC scheme members, but I will keep you posted.

A subject that comes up quite often is the UK 2011 census returns. The National Archives have just said:

"The 1911 census is a huge document – more than 12 times the size of the 1901 census, with 35,000 volumes containing the details of our 35 million ancestors and occupying some 2 kilometres of shelving. They are in good condition and suitable for scanning, with less than 5 per cent requiring more extensive conservation work to be scanned safely.

By far the best option for providing access to the census is online delivery, making the returns available to the widest possible audience and preserving the integrity of the original records. Proposals are well underway to find the very best company to work with us in order to provide a good reliable service for millions of potential users. We have published our requirements in the Official Journal of the European Union and over the next couple of months will seek to create a shortlist of potential suppliers.

Learning from previous experience and building on our current plans, The National Archives is eagerly looking forward to launching the 1911 census online in January 2012."

These returns are the actual householder schedules; not enumerators' books. This is good news, because up to now rumour control has had it that this was mission impossible.

As this is so long, I will cut out the usual whinging! And just take the opportunity to thank you all again for all your support.

Onward and Upward!!!!!

Are your ancestors missing?

2006-05-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

Regrettably the surviving census returns are not a full record of the population of nineteenth century England and Wales, and it may not always be possible to track down individuals, addresses and householdld These omissions reflect both under-enumeration at the time of the census, and subsequent loss or damage to the returns.

In the early censuses under the GRO, certain groups, usually those not living in conventional households, were simply not enumerated by name. These included the members of the Royal Navy on board ship in 1841, and possibly in 1851; all members of the merchant marine in 1841, and various sections of it thereafter, all fishermen afloat in 1841, and sections of this group thereafter; the crews of vessels engaged in inland navigation in 1841 and 1851; and all itinerants, travellers and night workers in 1841, and probably a considerable number of the same in later years. The soldiers serving abroad were never enumerated by name.

Undoubtedly, some individuals and households that should have been enumerated will have completely slipped through the census net. Some of these omissions might reflect clerical error as enumerators and households made inevitable slips in the recording or copying. A house might have been omitted, perhaps because it was unoccupied on census night, and the enumerator forgot to note it down as empty; a wife might have been absent because of an enumerator’s copying blunder; an elderly visitor might have been temporarily lost sight of; and so on. But in some districts, or among some social groups, it might have been difficult for hard-pressed enumerators to ensure that they had handed a household schedule to every family.

In the absence of any detailed research on the subject it is difficult to put a figure to such levels of under-enumeration. It should be noted, however, that post-enumeration surveys for the 1981 census indicated that 0.5% of households were missed in that census in the whole of England and Wales.

Some of the original returns, which were not always kept in optimum archival conditions in the nineteenth century, have been lost or damaged. Often such damage was confined to the backs and fronts of enumerators’ books, but more extensive gaps exist. Special returns, such as those for shipping, were often appended to the back of enumerators’ books, were especially liable to damage. In the 1851, all the ship returns seem to have been destroyed.

Making Sense of the Census Revisited by Edward Higgs. Copyright TNA

As far as the COCP knows, no large sections of the Cornish returns are missing, just odd pages here and there. Also, Cornwall was free of large urban districts, which are particularly hard to enumerate. However, the Cornish would have been heavily represented in the maritime returns that were not taken or which were lost in the earlier years.

COCP Newsletter No 7

2006-05-25T01:14:00.000-07:00

Hello folks

There are only 8 out of 89 pieces left of the 1861 and about two dozen parishes out of the over 200 parishes that make up the 1851. Should finish both before the end of the year.

We have just completed another 4 pieces of the 1871, which means we have done over 30% of that one. And the 1871 is my main topic today.

When we started the 1871 we were in the habit of sending multi-piece discs to transcribers. Obviously, we hoped you would do more than one, but it also saved on our considerable postal costs. It costs me about £2 for an overseas disc and £1 for a UK one. (these figures include the disc, packaging etc). I am not whinging about this - after all I am a volunteer!

We turn no one away, so we have a steadily increasing number of volunteers. So we are re-allocating pieces from multiple-piece discs. We try and keep everyone posted, but rely on you reading the emails!

We are also trying to persuade some people to try their hand at checking. This will continue to be a feature of grovelling emails from me! The next big task for us is the 1881. We are fortunate in having a complete transcription of the 1881 (don't ask). But it has to be reformatted for Free Census purposes and then checked. So we will end up needing to persuade you all to switch to checking for the final push.

I would like all 1871 TRANSCRIBERS to check in with myself or Kay; please give the piece number you are working on and a rough estimate of your progress.

Cornish Online Research

2006-05-06T04:43:00.000-07:00

If you are a newcomer to online family history research in Cornwall, then your first port of call should be to the Cornish pages of GENUKI (xhttp://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/). Not only is there a lot of information about the county in general terms, but each parish has its own pages. These pages also contain useful information, but perhaps more importantly, they all contain many links to other Cornish web sites. In particular to the Census Project and the OPC scheme.

The OPC (Online Parish Clerk) scheme was started in Cornwall about 5 years ago and has since spread to 8 or 9 other English counties. It could be called the “adopt-a-parish” scheme, but OPC sounded more interesting. Public spirited people step forward and adopt a parish or parishes. Their aim is to provide information and advice to anyone who contacts them. Some of them have their own web sites and some of them contain transcribed data, things such as parish registers. Others have their data hosted on other web sites and the scheme has its own web site (http://www.cornwall-opc.org/) which contains details of Cornish parishes and of the OPC themselves.

The OPC scheme is about to launch itself into a new project – C-PROP. This is the Cornish Parish Register Online Project and aims to get all 5 million Cornish parish register entries online free-to-view in a searchable database.

The Cornwall Online Census Project (COCP) is a sort of semi-detached part of the Free Census project. The COCP is busy transcribing ALL the Cornish 19th century census returns and placing them online. They are available on the Free Census OLDB (http://www.freecen.org.uk/) and on the COCP web site (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kayhin/ukocp.html). The whole of the 1841 & 1891 are online plus most of the 51 & 61. The 1871 & 81 are also appearing.

There are of course, lots of Cornish web sites you might find helpful. West Penwith is perhaps the best (http://west-penwith.org.uk/), but there are lots of others, including St Keverne (http://www.st-keverne.com/).

Finally, there are the commercial sites, the national projects (FreeBMD for instance) and the Cornish Family History web site. I cannot speak for them, but you can easily find them via Google.

The governance of Cornwall

2006-05-05T04:52:00.000-07:00

Two hundred years ago Cornwall was largely governed by Cornishmen living in Cornwall. There was, of course, a national government in London that made the rules, but the implementation and enforcement of these laws was mainly in the hands of Cornishmen. They were, of course, largely drawn from the upper and middle classes.

There were no district or county councils. The representatives of The Crown were here; they lived here amongst the Cornish. Lord Leuitenants, High Sherrifs and Judges enforced the laws laid down in London. At the lowest level was the Ecclesiastical parish, ruled by the local vicar. The parish had acquired various civil functions over the centuries, and the Vicar was constrained by law and by the elected Vestry. The Vestry was more or less self-selected from amongst the more prosperous inhabitants of the parish, but in the last resort they depended on the support of the parishioners.

From the time of the Tudors, the civil parishes (which usually covered the same ground as the ecclesiastical parishes) were given powers & duties governing the poor, the highways and petty crime. The system was supervised by the judiciary through the Quarter Sessions. At the same time, the manorial system was still around in many areas, with its own courts. The Court Leets & Baron were still meeting late in the 19th century and these appointed officials for such things as Ale tasting and Bread weighing. One of the chief officers was the Constable; he was responsible not only for local law and order, but for collecting local taxes such as the poor rate. Elected Parish Councils arrived in 1894, after the formation of County Councils.

Throughout the 19th century, the government in London refined the laws relating to social order and public good. New obligations and new rights were set out. But it is a mistake to see this entirely as a top-down process. There was pressure from the bottom to change things. A good example is the Poor Law Unions and the associated workhouses. The groans of those paying the poor rates forced the government in London to do something. The workhouses were sited, built, manned and maintained by local boards. There was a local board of governors and the jobs and the contracts to supply and maintain the workhouses were advertised in local papers.

By the end of the 19th century, elected County and parish councils had arrived. In the towns there were borough councils and in between the county & parish councils were Rural & Urban district councils. In 1830 Cornwall had more Members of Parliament than any other English county except for Wiltshire. These two counties had more MPs than Scotland! But in 1832, the reform act swept all that away and Cornwall was reduced to six. My own village had returned two MPs for 200 years. In the election of 1830 there were only 7 electors and they managed to elect three MPs instead of two!

In spite of constant change, much of the basic structure of Cornwall remains the same as it has been for a thousand years. Although I live in the modern district council area of Carrick; it covers almost the same ground as the ancient Hundred of Pydar. The parish of Newlyn East has been where it is for over a thousand years. The village of Mitchell is first recorded on paper in a court case of 1234 AD. The four local Domesday Manors of 1086 are still the sites of farms today.

Since the 1980s there has been increasing centralisation with more control going to outposts of the central government in regional authorities. The South West one lives a long way from Cornwall. The police force merged with that of Devon and the fire service is to be controlled from Taunton in Somerset. Even higher up, more and more power is shifting from London to Brussels and the County Council now has an office in that city.

Whether the shift from Cornwall to Swindon, London & Brussels is a good thing is an argument for another day!