May be it’s a reflection on the lack of pastimes for agricultural labourers other than procreation(!), my recent additions to the SMALL family ancestry of Bethersden and Great Chart show that they were anything but!
Extended research will be difficult, due to the repetitions of the names Charles, William, Elizabeth, Mary Ann, Richard, John and George …

Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History - ... or "An insight into personal family history research"

A recent announcement by Brightsolid, the publishers of FindMyPast.co.uk, indicates that they have entered an arrangement with Canterbury Cathedral Archives to provide digital access to their Kent parish records. This coincides with the closure of the Archives for roof repairs until autumn 2012.

Records will be rolled out gradually, and will include Thanet, coastal towns from Whitstable round to Hythe, and one would assume eventually all Kent PRs held at CCA. Initially, only scans will be viewable, but indexes are promised to follow.

It is not clear whether Bishop Transcripts and/or Archbishop Transcripts will be included.

Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History - ... or "An insight into personal family history research"

Today I found an online source for parish record transcriptions of Hastingleigh, Kent, and its surrounding parishes. This has produced quite a few more BARROWS 4 x great aunts and uncles in Stelling Minnis nearby!

Find the records via http://www.hastingleigh.com/ !

Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History - ... or "An insight into personal family history research"

It’s been a while since my last post, but I’ve not been idle!

I’ve been investigating more on the two (in)famous knights, both called Sir Robert BALDOCK, of the 14th and 17th centuries. These are my pet project(s). Due to their public/governmental/royal positions, there is a lot of information around. Despite having taken my BALDOCK line back to the 16th century,  I have found no crossover yet (even though I have plenty of BALDOCK ancestors called Robert!) I hope to find links to one or other of them one day …

In addition, I’ve located another two FAGG lines – one via Ash (near Sandwich), and another via Faversham/Sittingbourne. I’m currently investigating where these lead!

Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History - ... or "An insight into personal family history research"

Thanks to the WordPress team for providing a system which allows seamless upgrades!

With a little preparation & planning regards plugin compatibility (and installation of a second backup tool!), I have seamlessly upgraded to the latest version, with no (currently) visible side-effects.

Please let me know if you spot any quirks of behaviour I’ve missed..

Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History - ... or "An insight into personal family history research"

There are probably few of you reading this who remember watching British Pathé newsreels at the cinema (no, I don’t either!). In an age before television, they fed people news from around the country, and the world. This means became very important during World War II.

Well, why not see for yourself at the British Pathe website. It’s full of newsreels you can watch for free.

I searched for “Kent”, and found quite a few. Some showed families harvesting hops, another showed a ploughing match. A third showed the first electric train to Margate, the  Kent Coast Special Southern Electric, which has this wonderful closing line…

“It’s so quick, harassed mothers in London will soon be telling their children after tea, ‘Go down to Margate and play on the sands till bedtime!’ “

Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History - ... or "An insight into personal family history research"

Those of you who are not able to afford subscriptions to multiple genealogy sites may have been jealous of those who have access to the very useful 1911 census data at FindMyPast.

However, Ancestry recently announced that they will be rolling out 1911 data this year. Until such time as actual schedules are available, they have started providing images of the Census Enumerator Summary Books (see here). These give house-by-house summaries of the parish, along with head-of-household’s name and the number of male & female residents. This is a nice way to locate your ancestors’ abode, and maybe even determine that their property still exists. Of course, if the address no longer exists, it helps determine where it was in the village or town of today…

Happy hunting!

Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History - ... or "An insight into personal family history research"

I cannot believe how the last 12 months has flown. It’s taken a year but I’ve finally updated the tree on my blog (find it here).
The update is substantial (approximately 45% more people and 71% more families!) and corrects some previous errors.
This update will be rolled out to Genes Reunited, Ancestral Atlas and Ancestry in due course.

Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History - ... or "An insight into personal family history research"

Previously, the record number of children born to anyone in my family tree was 15.

Today, I discovered that John FAGG (1760-1827) of Kingston and Dover fathered 16, admittedly by two different wives. I guess in a way this may mean that the previous record is still valid for a couple.

Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History - ... or "An insight into personal family history research"

Recently corrected lineage of Elizabeth CLEVELAND, mother-in-law to Elizabeth BALDOCK (b. 1802 Womenswold). Previous sources indicated she was born in Margate to Thomas CLEVELAND and Ann HARLOW, but new information convinces me more that she was actually born in Preston-next-Wingham to John CLEVELAND and Ann ANDREWS.

Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History - ... or "An insight into personal family history research"