RECENT MEETINGS OF THE SOUTHEND COMPUTER GROUP

Laurie started his talk by showing the information that can be gleaned from the Ancestry “ Pallot’s Marriage Index 1780-1837 CD disc.The information on this disc was taken from the “Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers” Book. Pallot had indexed 1.5 million Marriage Registrations from London and Middlesex, This included the 101 Parishes out of 103 parishes of the Old City of London

Outside of London Pallot also indexed 2.500 Parishes in 38 Counties. Pallot also indexed Baptisms 1780-1837.

The work of Percival Boyd.MA.FBA.FSG (1866-1955) and his Staff Copies of Parish Marriages, Bishop Transcripts, Marriage Licences from 1538-1840. All English Counties covered

Pre-Eminent Research Library of English Protestant Nonconformity. One of the Oldest Libraries open to the public.

VCH founded in 1899, and was dedicated to Queen Victoria. The VCH is an Encyclopaedic Research of English Counties and People, from the earliest times to the present day.

Click onto the main map, this will enlarge the map and give you a list of counties.
Counties covered in Red, (17) Active VCH. Covered in Grey (21) work has been done by the VCH.Covered in White (3) no work carried out by the VCH.

Click onto a County “Essex” This will give you a map of Essex and a list of Publications of Essex.

Volumes 1 to 3. - These volumes cover, Natural, Early, Ecclesiastical, Political, Maritime, Social Economic, Industrial, Schools, Sport, Forestry, and Roman History.

The Essex Society for Family History gives a donation to the VCH, to help with their ongoing research.

The ESFH Southend Computer Group have been holding meetings at this venue, on the last Thursday of each month, from 7.00pm to 9.30pm.

We had a trial meeting in November 2008, and had more visitors than members turn up.

The ESFH Southend Computer Group Committee agreed to hold four (4) meetings at the Rochford Library from April to July,

We have held two (2) meetings, April and May; attendances at these meetings have been mostly members

We have had visitors turn up at these meetings, but we do not see many turn up at the ESFH South East Branch, or ESFH Southend Computer Group meetings.

At the next Committee meeting of the ESFH Southend Computer Group, a decision will be taken re the future use of this venue.

The Web, discuss with other members if they had problems with their Family History,

This meeting had a change of date due to the St.Bernard’s High School being closed for the Easter break. From the 9^th to the 2^nd.

The evening started with the AGM of the Computer Group, an independent member of the ESTH Society Chaired the meeting, Mr B.Godwin. in one of the School books about Saxons, it stated there had been a "Lord Godwin", so you never know, we could have had "Royalty" at our meeting.

The Chairman Laurie Page gave his yearly report, saying that in his year of office the Group had had some good talks given by good speakers, some good tutorials, and the group was going from strength to strength. He also thanked the members of the committee , for their help over the year.

He mentioned that the Executive Committee still had to give a decision on the Future of the Southend Computer Group, and "Laid to Rest" the Rumour that the Southend Computer Group was moving, (This had been brought up by a Computer Member), which we are not.

The Treasure Les Denton gave his yearly report on the finances of the Group, saying that although the main expenses are covered by the Society, donations are collected from the meetings, and this goes into the running cost of the group.

The Outgoing Computer Group Committee were all duly elected to carry on the business of the Southend Computer Group for another year. (if we are allowed to carry on)

Laurie explained the BMD layout and ways of searching for your ancestors, at the moment the BMD's are from 1937 Sep Quarter to 1926, with more BMD's being added monthly.

findmypast was explained by Ron , who looked at the cost of subscriptions and what you got for your money, also explained some of the databases you can search.

Ron Bean .

July 2008

Jeanne Bunting, John Hanson explained how to use the www.findmypast.com Genealogy site.

This site is getting more information added to it, by the month.

findmypast has now became part of the group that also owns scotlandspeople.

Jean showed the members how to use the different components of the site.

The talk on findmypast was to be a hands on exercise, but for some reason we could not download any of the census images,although in previous months this had been possible.

But members could still do searches and see the transcripts from the images.

As usual an interesting subject given by Jeanne and John.

Ron Bean .

Pay to use downloads.
X5SE, and Dreamweaver.
Free to use downloads.
Coffee Cup and Top Style.
The programme that Les “Demonstrated” is called www.Geni.com

You click onto the web address,
The Company state that the programme is Private, Free, Easy, Collaborative Genealogy, permanent Family Archive.

The programme has Gedcom export-import.
Custom views and settings.
Accessible from anywhere.
Nothing to install or upgrade.

Geni Features.
Family Tree- Profiles for each person,
Photo sharing, Tagging. Timeline, Family News, Advanced Privacy, Calendar, Birthday reminders and Greetings.

When you go into the www.Geni.com web site the screen shows you a two box Family Tree, that you fill in, you then Log-in, or you can go to,www,Geni.com/Gedcom/start.

You fill in the form- Upload your Gedcom file, click next, indicate who you are in your file, click next and that is it.

The Gedcom file is imported into the Geni Programme, and will build your tree for you.

You can also build your own Tree. You can fill in the coloured Blue-Pink boxes.

Click edits to add your information, a series of screens where you add or remove individuals.

Whilst Les explained the programme, our Chairman Laurie, went into the site, filled in the two boxes in the tree, then Logged-in, and the programme Opened up, so that you could add your information to the programme.

Each person has a timeline, and you add events to their profile, also photographs.

Family news can be sent to Family and Friends; also you can customize settings, Profile Privacy, Block Users, and Read Only.

Les also mentioned that you don’t have to put the tree on the web, you save it to your disc, memory stick, or hard drive,

The programme has a couple of faults, if you send all the information to a relative, they could put the Tree on the web.

The other fault, which we came across, was if you put your sibling in the wrong birth date order, it did not have the “Move people in birth date order”

You had to put the person in again and then remove that person again from the wrong position.

This programme is easy to use, visually appealing, preserve the now, and can be left to a Family member to carry on the tree, as it is accessible to them on the web.

A well-explained programme by Les, who spoke clearly, at a moderate pace, and answered any queries as he went through the programme.

With all family programmes and aids it takes time to become competent with them.

A programme well worth looking at, and trying, even if you don’t want to put your Family Tree on the Web.

May 2008. - "Gedcom to Excel" - How to view your Family Tree on a spreadsheet”, By Gary Broad.

Gedcom.
Where it is in a family history programme.
How and why put it into an Excel spreadsheet.
Information in a Gedcom file.
Will be Family and Individual information.
Can be shared with non-historians.
Common Travel Format.
Other Pc’s.
Printed sheet.

Gedcom into an Excel spreadsheet.
You can use the following aids.
Oxy-gen, Ancestor-Access,
Gedxlate.

This is a programme that is quick and easy to use; translate genealogy data from standard Gedcom format into MS Access dB, MS Excel Worksheet, Comma Delimited and Text File Format.

Gedcom a family tree to transfer, choose a small family tree, so that you can practice with the programme,

The Gedxlate programme is a very good download programme to use and will help historians to put their Family History into a spreadsheet.

Post Mill - A wooden structure built round a post in an elevated position which could be moved round to catch the wind.

Tower Mill - Made of brick, in a cylindrical shape, the top was usually made of wood which would turn round in the wind as it was fitted with a vane so that the main sails could turn.

Smock Mill - Wooden structure-eight sided, called a Smock as the shape was based on the 18^th century smock worn by farm workers.

Undershot - Where the water went under the wheel to turn it. Most suited for shallow streams in flat country. Cheapest to make.

Overshot - Where falling water over the top of the wheel falls on the paddles in the front of the wheel.

Breastshot. - Rotated by water striking the buckets near the centre of the wheel’s edge, used in high flow rivers and streams.

Backshot - The water is introduced just behind the summit of the wheel, used in streams with extreme seasonal variations in flow, also gains extra power from the water’s current as it passes under the wheel.

Farmers would bring their Corn, Wheat and Oats to the Mill to be ground into flour when the harvest had been collected. This was the miller’s hardest time of the year; he worked from dawn to dusk, working in a dusty atmosphere, (aka Dusty) moving sacks of flour weighing 200lbs,imperial, 91 Kilograms, metric. In weight. He worked every day, and Saturday afternoons were spent cleaning the mill.

The miller also would keep bees, chickens, and other livestock, and would also have had a vegetable plot.

Laurie explained how these mills ground the corn, wheat, oats, how they were built and how the layout of the machinery was done.

March 2008 - "Harvesting Internet Data" - .Hints and Tips. By Jeanne Bunting.

When you want to download Internet data, from ant Genealogy Site, such as findmypast, Ancestry, Familysearch, freeBMD into an Excel sheet, always open your Excel sheet first.

Before Copying and Pasting Data into it, look for Patterns in the Data, and use Find and Replace to make a “Comma separated phase”. Take out words like “or” and put in comma’s, when you go to download, make sure you have enough columns and rows.

When downloading Data from certain genealogy sites, all the information downloads with it, including the Links, so when the data is in the Excel format, change the information into a “comma separated phase”, then copy and paste into another sheet.

This was another of Jeanne’s interesting and informative talks; I think every body learnt something.

February 2008- An Open meeting where members and visitors can Search The Internet using Genealogy sites to assist them with their Family Research, and having One to One help from a Committee member if they have a problem with their Computer, Software Discs, and Family History Programmes.

These meetings are a great help to visitors, and also members who have time to chat to other members about their Family History.

January 2008 - "Making the most of a computer for Family History" .by Eric Probert.

Sources on CD’s DVD’s.
Censuses, Parish Records, Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, Directories, Poll Books, The list is endless, as there is something being put onto disc nearly every month.

The Internet.
Genealogy Sites, ( findmypast, Ancestry, FamilySearch) E-mails, Mailing Lists, Forums, News Groups, News Letters.Look up exchanges.

Other places you can find information, Local Libraries, Record Centres, Local Family History Societies, London Metropolitan Archives, The National Archives, Society of Genealogy.

December 2007 -. The genealogy of Father Christmas, a talk by Andrew Britter.

Father Christmas, when did he first appear, or did he? Andrew explained that he could have been around for some time and different guises have been shown on how he looked. Was he named after known persons, somebody from the church, or could it have been a mythological person?

If he was around before the Birth of Christ, did they, (the people) give presents or have some sort of feast to celebrate something?

After Christ was born, then yes, the presents and feasting could have begun, as this was a celebration that could be carried out each year. But this would have been more of a spiritual gathering.

The Coca-Cola Company of America, in 1931, started the image of Father Christmas, the big, jolly, white bearded man, dressed in a red outfit, as we know today.

But before this happened, what was the image of Father Christmas? Was he a big, jolly, white bearded man? – He could have been, but he could have been dressed in any colour that suited the area where they celebrated Christmas.

Father Christmas, Santa Claus, is a childhood belief, as are fairies, gnomes and leprechauns.

But there is a “Father Christmas” as it is a surname, which would have appeared the same time as other surnames did.

The second part of Andrew’s talk was very interesting, as the surname Christmas appears in his family tree and he explained the connection to his family line.

When listening to somebody explaining his or her family tree, you can lose track of what they are talking about, but Andrew did show a family tree layout, which was a great help, as when he explained the connection to the family, you could have wondered “what’s it all about?”

Christmas is celebrated many different ways, be it spiritual, or commercialised, but people have the choice.

We will end on this – Do you believe in Father Christmas? I do, just ask Andrew.

November 2007 - November saw a demonstration by Kevin Cole of the latest edition of Family Tree Maker 2008, showing big changes.
New Design – Main interface has changed, the main areas are grouped together and each is accessed by seven (7) buttons, which are in the Tool Bar.
With previous FTM programs/updates, they usually overwrite the existing program, as all the files have an .FTW extension. The FTM 2008 version saves its files as an .FTM extension and so this does not affect your .FTW files.If you are using FTM 2008 for the first time, for your family history, the software will take you to the Family Page where the screen shows you a Pedigree Chart of your main person and you can enter your new and existing information. If you hover the mouse pointer over any name it will show you the dates of birth/death; a double click on a name and that person’s Tab opens.

Creating a Chart – Click on any name in the Index section and this also creates a Chart for that person. The Index section list all people in your current file, very good for small family trees, but if you have a large family tree, you will do a lot of scrolling
Right clicking any of the names in the Index and using the Bookmark option, these names will be your key persons.

Filter Button – Use this button to select Ancestors/Descendants of that person and to add or take out facts about that person.below the main chart is the Family Group section; this shows details of the selected persons spouse, you can also see the children of this couple if you drag the top of this windowpane. On the top right hand side of the screen you will find General Tools.

Add Button – You can add parents, spouse and children. Enter name, gender, click OK, that person now shows up on the Pedigree Chart, with the cursor flashing in the editing section.

Editing Section – In this we can add more information to the person we have just put in; this section will accept dates with Before/After/Between.
Place Names, when added, start an Auto-complete aspect that searches FTM’s Gazetteer for its location. But you have to download a service pack to upgrade this feature and others, for this to work.
Another feature, you can add a photo of the entered person and this section cannot be hidden; it will always be on show, on the right hand side of the screen.

Other points about this program: you can link your pictures; share your tree, which can be E-mailed to family and friends, or exported to a disc. You can upload it to “Ancestry.com” but as I understand, the information you have uploaded to them will then become their property.

Family Tree Maker 2008 will upgrade any FTM program from 1-16. Previous programs, have, over the years, been proven and as they have the same format, have been good programs.

FTM 2008 is completely new, with new design, layouts, etc. and will take time to learn and be ‘au fait’ with, but this is the same with any new program that will be used in the family history market.

October 2007 - The October meeting was open for both members and visitors to do their own research, to have one to one help from a Committee member, who could give assistance with Research, Internet, Computer and Programme problems.Some of these problems might take longer to find, as in Research, or a Computer fault, but can be followed up outside of the meeting. The advantage of this type of meeting is that it enables more interaction between the Committee, new members and visitors, and to sort out any problem in family history.

The annual AGM for the Group was held 13^th September 2007 at our normal venue.
The following members were Nominated, Seconded, and Voted in to hold an Officer position for the Southend Computer Group.

Chairman.          Laurie Page
Secretary           Beryl Godwin.
Treasurer           Les Denton.
PR Members     Jose wells
                            Mavis Sander

“The article writer was informed that this AGM was Null and Void, as the 6 week (42 Day) notice had not been published in the ESFH Magazine “The Historian” also had not been put on the ESFH Web site.”

An Open meeting followed the AGM, members were invited to state their views on the way the Group meetings were being put across.

A One to One 20-minute session with a knowledgeable member of the Group. Which can be three sessions, fitted in before the main meeting starts.