12/07/2010 - The July edition of Village Voices is now available
Fenland Family History
FENLAND FAMILY HISTORY GROUP LAUNCHED
A new organisation that will be of interest to local
genealogists was launched in Wisbech on Thursday 22nd
March 2001 at a meeting attended by over 50 people in the Wisbech
& Fenland Museum.
The aims of the Fenland Family History Society will be
to promote and encourage the study of family, local and social
history with particular reference to the historical area, now
known as Fenland, comprising the former Isle of Ely, parts of
South Lincolnshire and West Norfolk.
The Society will also assist in the transcription and
preservation of archival material and will hope to be engaged in
fieldwork such as recording monumental inscriptions from local
churchyards.
A programme of lectures, workshops and visits will be
organised and members will have the opportunity to share their
researches or seek guidance from others.
Anyone interested in genealogy, experienced or just
beginning, and wishing to join the new Society is invited to
contact Bridget Hunter 01945 587723
A family history database of over
12,000 names has been set up containing details from church
registers, census returns and other documents from the villages
of Guyhirn, Murrow and Wisbech St Mary, and the hamlets of
Tholomas Drove and Thorney Toll which together constitute the
historic parish of Wisbech St Mary.
The database also contains
information from vestry minutes, gravestones and memorials,
school logbooks, parish council minutes and local newspapers.
There is also an expanding
collection of photographs dating from the 1850s illustrating life
in these typical Fenland villages.
Based only on information which
appears in the Wisbech St Mary registers and census returns,
family trees have been extracted for the following families:
Afford, Bothway, Bradley, Butwright, Cousins, Edis, Garner,
Gilby, Grange, Hardy, Holmes, Kingerley, LePla, Marriott,
Newsham, Payne, Peck, Pool, Ream, Skeels/Skells, Southwell, Tawn,
Tegerdine, Weston, Wilson
To enhance the project,
photographs of local families and/or events are always welcome.
They can be copied and returned almost immediately. Family trees
or information applicable to this parish, already researched by
amateur genealogists, would also be most welcome and much
appreciated.
The co-ordinator of the project,
local historian Brian Payne, will be pleased to research families
for a modest charge. He can be contacted on 01945 410755 or
e-mail