LL-L "Research" 2008.07.10 (01) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 10 July 2008 - Volume 01
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From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Comprehension" 2008.07.09 (01) [E]

 from Heather Rendall   heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk

Subject: LL-L "Comprehens" 2008.07.08 (08) [E]

Jonny wrote: But there is another sad fact in general around  the
documentations concerning my home village: as a consequence of the 30 Years
War and WWII (a bomb destroyed that part of the Hannoversches Staatsarchiv
in which 'our' documents were kept) there isn't much left to investigate. So
a search has to be done within the extended region.

Can I make a suggestion about this sad state of affairs. It may not work BUT
just in case.

It might be worth searching 18 and 19th century histories and commentaries
either now out of print or stuck in the back of old library shelves marked
Reference Only - because frequently these writers referred to and quoted
extensively from documents that were around at the time but which sadly have
now been irretrievably lost. The number of erudite clergymen who 'dabbled'
in historical inquiry in those times was huge and they often left behind
them very well researched histories of their parishes / local families /
churches etc.

In German you have a huge amount of investigation into German / Celtic
history done throughout the 19th century. You never know what references or
quotes you might find in their books - and don't forget the Journals that
were published. These often contain short essays on local research.

I was lucky enough to be able to buy 3 shelves worth of Sussex
Archaeological Collections from 1848 onwards. They have provided me with
many hidden gems.[ I used to live in Sussex!] I am now building up the same
kind of resource from the Worcester Archaeological Society.

Family histories are good. Do you have any old / famously long-lined
families around. We have located not only the documents I was talking about,
previously in a private family archive, but also another two from a 2nd
family archive. We think our village estate might have been the traditional
dowry gift of a daughter as she married and hence papers passed to her new
family. If she produced no heirs, the estate appears to have reverted back
to her family rather than pass down to the new family. This means that we
may well turn up papers about this village in any number of family archives.
So we keep on searching!

Also many old out-of-print books useful for genealogical research are now
being scanned onto CD. I don't know about ones in German but if you do find
a reference to an old book, it is always worth googling for it in case it
appears on a list of CDs. They xcan also be cheaper this way.

I was told last week about a copy of Noakes, Worcester in olden Times in a
charity shop for £15. I googled and found I could buy it for $17 as a
searchable CD. Much better for my purposes ..... though I always have a
hankering for the real McCoy as I love books. But space is at a premium in
this study now!

Hope this helps

Heather
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