Some Yesterday's Names parish magazine CDs contain detailed name indexes, detailing each reference to a name, with transcriptions of some articles, whereas others contain just a simple name index plus scanned images of the magazine pages.
Why?
Well, when I started Yesterday's Names, I thought long and hard about scanning versus indexing, and I eventually decided that even if I went for scanning, I would still want to include a name index. The reason for this is that people aren't necessarily where you might expect them to be, and in almost every index I've created I've found references to people who don't live in the parish being indexed. In addition to the index on each CD, I also have a mammoth master index of all the names in all the indexes I've produced - very useful for tracking missing ancestors or for one name studies! One day I might even make it available on-line.
The decision about whether to scan as well really depends on the quality of the magazines for the parish. These documents are over a hundred years old, and were often printed on coloured paper. The quality of the paper is also very variable, often now very fragile, and in some cases the magazines have been bound so tightly, it would be impossible to scan them without removing them from their binding. The worst thing though is trying to get a decent quality scan with faded print on coloured paper (the colour often differing on each page!).
So - if the pages are of a fairly uniform background colour, the print is reasonably distinct, and the paper will stand up to it - then I'll scan the pages and accompany them with a simple name index. If the pages aren't easily scannable, then I'll do a detailed name index, extracting as much of the information about each name reference as possible, and adding in transcriptions of a selection of articles.
So now you know!
Showing posts with label Parish Magazines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parish Magazines. Show all posts
Free Parish Magazine Extracts
Because I have a mortgage to pay, I have to charge for the Yesterday's Names CDs that I produce. But there are a few individuals and organisations with web sites that contain extracts from old parish magazines, that are free to access.
Listed below are links to a selection of free sites that I've spotted, but if you find any others, do please add them to this post, or email us at info@yesterdaysnames.co.uk and we'll add them to the list.
Listed below are links to a selection of free sites that I've spotted, but if you find any others, do please add them to this post, or email us at info@yesterdaysnames.co.uk and we'll add them to the list.
Parish Magazines for family history
Since a lot of my genealogical ramblings revolve around old Parish Magazines, I thought I'd better explain a bit more about them.
The Yesterday's Names CDs that I produce are mostly indexes of names, plus basic details, extracted from Victorian parish magazines. Sometimes, if the volumes of magazines are suitable, the CDs include scanned page images from the magazines.
The Yesterday's Names CDs that I produce are mostly indexes of names, plus basic details, extracted from Victorian parish magazines. Sometimes, if the volumes of magazines are suitable, the CDs include scanned page images from the magazines.
So what are Parish Magazines?
In the 1860s, bishops started to promote the idea amongst their clergy that using a magazine to communicate with their parishioners would help them to maintain regular contact. Gradually this idea was implemented - more successfully in some parishes than others - and today it is the norm for parishes to regularly publish magazines. In the Victoria era though, a lot of initial attempts at publishing parish magazines faltered for economic reasons. Generally, parishioners were charged about a penny for each monthly copy, but this often wasn't enough to cover the costs of production. A number of centrally produced publications started to appear - e.g., Home Words, Church Monthly, Parish Magazine - and these were used as the main content of the local magazines, with the parish just producing a single sheet "wrapper" for the magazine, with this containing all of the local church news. The number of magazines produced in each parish varies greatly - some large parishes produced thousands of copies each month, whereas some small parishes only produced 50 copies per month. Consequently, survival rates of these old magazines are very variable.
How can old Parish Magazines help with family history research?
All magazines are different, and their style and content varied greatly, depending on the whim of the vicar or (more usually) the curate who edited them. So some of them are more helpful than others for genealogy researchers.
First and foremost, even if your ancestors aren't specifically named in the magazines for a parish in which they lived, the magazines can still give you a flavour of what their lives were like. But if your ancestors were active within the parish, then the magazines could contain a treasure trove of information. Once you've traced the basic details of your family history, references to them in parish magazines might give your more of an idea of what your ancestors were up to in between those precious census snapshots and birth, marriage and death registrations that are often all we know of them.
Typically, old parish magazines contain a selection of the following types of information of genealogical interest:-
- Parish register extracts : Details of baptisms, marriages, and burials. Sometimes only names are given, but frequently the baptism references also include names of parents and addresses, and burial details usually include age. For residents heavily involved with the church, there would sometimes be a detailed obituary included in the magazines.
- Donations : The Victorians were great at cataloguing things, and they excelled themselves in their parish magazines by listing all of the donations made by their parishioners to the various church funds and appeals. Obviously, these lists usually only include people who were able to afford to give money to the church, but if your ancestors are listed, together with the sums they gave, this can give you an insight into their wealth and social standing.
- Clergy and church officers : As you'd expect, parish magazines contain a lot of detail about the activities of the Vicar and the Churchwardens. So if you have an ancestor who was one of those, they can be an absolute goldmine.
- Prizes : Many parishes named in their magazines the children at Sunday School who won prizes for attendance or examinations. The day schools were also managed by the church, and had regular inspections where the children were tested on their religious knowledge, and again the prize winners were often named in the parish magazines. It was also not unusual for parish magazines to publish details of winners in the local flower shows etc., and winners of other types of award are also sometimes included - for example, the Highgate parish magazines contain great detail about the competitions held by the local Rifle Volunteers.
- Parish Events : Before the advent of television, parish life included many organised entertainments and group outings. The descriptions of some of the entertainments can be very enlightening if you are lucky enough to find an ancestor mentioned. The descriptions of what they sang, played, or recited can sometimes be very illuminating! Some magazines describe parish cricket matches in great detail, others describe in detail the church decorations made by various church helpers. There are also descriptions of meetings held by various groups such as Mothers Meetings, Band of Hope, chess clubs, debating societies, Bible Classes, Girls Friendly Society, and various others.
As I already said though, each parish magazine had a different style, and some contain much more information of interest to a family historian than others. But all of them give a unique insight into parish life.