Thursday 8 December 2011

Start of the Baptisms & A Visit to Kew

Since I last posted I've been carrying on trying to put together the families of the 1841 Census. In order to do this I'm looking at marriages in the GRO and baptism records from 1837 to 1841 as more children under the age of 5 were given their actual ages than those over this age.

To do this I've been using a mixture of the baptisms which are available on Ancestry and those that are listed on Family Search. In both cases using the 'Advanced' search options.

From Family Search I located 43 baptisms. In order to cite them I used Window's Snipping Tool (available on Widows7) in order to get a print screen of the result as it looks on the Family Search website. This tool also records the date the image is captured automatically.

My next step has been to put all of the data into a spreadsheet, which will link in with my MASTER list once all the people have been identified. Included in this is the FILM NUMBER.

Now I'm quite lucky in that I live close enough to the London Family History Centre at Hyde Park to be able to check the transcriptions against what has been indexed. Firstly I make sure that the London FHC has the films I need by using the catalogue search function on their website. Usually the London Family History Centre is based at.....Hyde Park. However they're getting some upgrade work done so they've temporarily moved to the Reading Room on the first floor at the National Archives in Kew. You can still access the films you require and they have computers there for access to Find My Past, Ancestry and all other resources that were available at the Hyde Park Centre. However I did not notice any USB connection points for their computer terminals.

Living close enough to Hyde Park to pop in on my way home is nice, but as they've moved to Kew I can also make my way down there, albeit on a Saturday morning as it's a bit far to go from work (and in the opposite direction!)

Again, luckily I appear to be the committed fiancĂ©e as the OH has rugby practice down that way on Saturday so I get to go to Kew and he gets to go chase a ball around the field and get hit lots by other men!

Once you've made your way the the LDS area of the Reading Room you can set up just as before; you choose a reader, get the corresponding block of wood and put in on the shelf and then put your request in (4 films at a time). They make trips every 15 minutes and are very lovely and helpful individuals.

Due to the time constraints (read - OH finished practice and was sore & in dire need of a 'long soak in a hot bath') I didn't have time to double check all 43 entries.  Instead I only got through 16 films and I couldn't find four entries on the film numbers specified.

Once I locate a baptism I transcribe it and take photo's of the register from the microfilm reader. This works reasonably well providing the light isn't directly overhead and the text is dark enough. Personally I take close up shots of the entry and the top of the page, this leads to numerous images for each baptism and I then 'stitch' them together using Paint. I don't have time to learn Photoshop! This gives a further visual reference for the citation.

Below is a list of the baptisms I did manage to confirm:


Date of Baptism
Parish
Name of Child
Male / Female
Father’s Name
Mother’s Name
Father’s Occupation
Abode
Date of Birth
13 June 1841
St. Botolph Without, Aldersgate, Middlesex
Mary Ann STEERS
Dau. Of
Stephen
Jane
Waiter
25 Red Cross Square
10 April 1841
16 October 1839
Parish Church of Leek, Staffordshire
Elizabeth STEERS
Dau. Of
Thomas
Martha
Farmer
Heaton

11 October 1837
Parish Church of Leek, Staffordshire
Hannah STEERS
Dau. Of
Thomas
Martha
Farmer
Thorncliffe

03 September 1827
St. Dunstan, Stepney, Middlesex
John Thomas Barker STEERS
Son Of
John
Rebecca
Bricklayer
[blank]
24 July 1837
08 February 1840 {Private Baptism}
Parish Church of Farnham, Surrey
Mary Ann STEERS
Dau. Of
John
Eliza
Weaver
East Street

26 July 1839
Parish Church of Sundon, Bedfordshire
Emma STEERS
Dau. Of
[blank]
Elizabeth

Sundon

13 June 1841
Parish Church of Sundon, Bedfordshire
John STEERS
Son Of
Richd
Eliza
Labr
Sundon

17 February 1839
Parish Church of Bromley, Kent
Eleanor STEERS
Dau. Of
Thomas
Jane
Labourer
Bromley

30 June 1839
Parish Church of Bromley, Kent
Charlotte STEERS
Dau. Of
George
Anne
Labourer
Bromley

14 January 1838
Parish Church of Bromley, Kent
Charles STEERS
Son Of
Thomas
Jane
Labourer
Bromley

26 February 1837
Parish Church of Bromley, Kent
Harriet Catharine STEERS
Dau. Of
George
Anne
Labourer
Bromley Command




I won't mind making more trips to Kew; which is a good thing given the number's I've got to contend with.