From the Otley Museum collection

Ascension Day.

Back row 3rd for the right Miss Margaret Aldred, English teacher.

Back row extreme left could be Stanley Greaves. He was living at 4 Birchwod Avenue Keighley at the time of the 1939 register.

An introduction to Irish Family History

The meeting was held at 7:30PM on Thursday September 21 2023

Speaker: Natalie Bodle

Irish ancestry research can be tricky, but this talk will cover how you can get started, which records are available and best of all which are free. This will give you a good grounding to making a start on finding your Irish ancestors. Natalie delivered a very enjoyable talk, packed with useful links for those people interested in researching their Irish Roots.

Natalie kindly allowed us to record the meeting, for all our members to view. The recording and content is subject to copyright and must not be shared with anyone outside the AWFHS, and should not be retained or copied after 28 days.

To Access the video click the following link: An Introduction to Irish Genealogy

Passcode: tS$1.fpM

The associated handout can be accessed here: Intro to Irish Family History Research-Sources list-v4.pdf

I recently came across an old notebook from 1973 with notes of my searches which led me to my grandmother’s baptism in a Methodist Chapel in North Norfolk.  Previously, I had found her birth certificate and  had searched many, many parishes looking for her baptism.  This led me to never discount non-conformity. 

Over the years whenever an enquirer poses a research problem concerning missing baptisms or a marriage,  I will often recommend looking at Methodist, Baptist or Congregational records.  Alas, the answer is invariably, “My lot were all C of E.”  When you consider the number of Methodist chapels, often two or three to the one parish church, the likelihood is most families must have spent some time with one of the three denominations.

Methodism was all embracing, not just church on Sunday.  They ran bible classes, ladies’ clubs, men’s clubs, amateur dramatics, cubs, brownies, guides scouts, football & cricket teams etc, etc.  They certainly knew how to make use of their buildings and facilities.

Since our feature article in the July issue of Family Tree Magazine, which proved a useful prompt for new members, here are a selection of Methodist records we have added to our members database:

• Austwick Wesleyan Methodist Baptisms 1852-1884 (Clapham parish)
• Bentham Wesleyan Methodist Baptisms 1866-1884 (Low Bentham parish)
• Bentham Wesleyan Methodist Marriages 1868-1878 (Low Bentham parish)
• Bentham Mill Dam Wesleyan Methodist Baptisms 1853-1918 (Low Bentham parish)
• Burton in Lonsdale Wesleyan Methodist Marriages 1919-1950
• Giggleswick Wesleyan Methodist Baptisms 1847-1879
• Langcliffe Wesleyan Methodist Marriages 1912-1949 (Giggleswick parish)
• Newby in Craven Wesleyan Methodist Marriages 1923-1949 (Clapham parish)
• Settle Wesleyan Methodist Marriages 1923-1949 (Giggleswick parish)
• Westhouse Wesleyan Methodist Marriages 1929-1949 (Thornton in Lonsdale parish)

Recently the Airedale & Wharfedale FHS have been transcribing historical Methodist records in the parts of North Yorkshire within our area.   It is interesting to note for every parish church there were usually two Methodist chapels and sometimes more.   If you consider a family with young  children, would they trudge the miles each way to the parish church when they were passing one or even two Methodist chapels?  (see below) Judging by the number of baptisms and marriages we have transcribed the answer is no!  In recent times many of these buildings are closing and it is to be hoped that their records do survive and end up in safe hands.

We have a further 2,000 baptisms and over 500 marriages from similar sources to add in the near future.   A full list of those already included is shown in our Member’s Database at awfhs.org. 

Our success in continuing to record this amount of historical data is largely due to the commitment our members, many of whom live beyond these shores.

Zoom talk by: John Lyte

Notes by: Stephen Miller

John LYTE, chairman of a local Family History Group, and ancestral link with Henry Francis LYTE (composer of “Abide with Me”) thrilled the 12 attendees with his talk on “Saving Chapel Row”

John bought a derelict property in Briestfield (between Huddersfield and Wakefield) and over a period of several years restored it and researched the history of the property and those that resided there.

Briestfield is a medieval village, whose name derives from the coal fields which surround it. It was first mentioned in the Doomsday book of 1066, showing a value of £2. The name is formed from the word ‘Brere’, meaning a tongue of land between two rivers. In this case Howroyd Beck and Briestfield Beck.

Zoom talk by:  Janet Few

Notes by: Lynda Balmforth

Approximately 36 people joined our Zoom meeting in which Janet made us realise just how much information we were missing out on by not exploring the sources of the twentieth century. We tend to think that we know it already and it can be difficult to research with rules of closures, such as the 100 year rule for releasing a census, also we think of it as not ‘history’ but it is a vital part of our family history with the advantages of concentrating on a time period, a time of great change and therefore interest, especially with the subject of DNA and Janet then gave us an in depth list of twentieth century sources available today.

Zoom presentation by Mr Chris Broom “Humour in Genealogy”

30 Attendees

This was our first Saturday afternoon meeting by Zoom. Usually our meeting at Threshfield, but about 29 members and non-members enjoyed linking up with Chris who lives in Suffolk to hear his amusing talk.

Chris had only taken an interest in genealogy about 10 years ago when his father, Trevor, towards the end of his life, felt he would like to know more about his family so Chris began to research and was surprised to take note of many amusing items he came across in different sources and decided he could put together an interesting talk about them.