Published in Windelsora 02 (1983)
© WLHG
The Windsor, Slough & District Family History Society was formed in 1977 by a nucleus of people who had attended a course of W.E.A. lectures given by Mrs. Betty St. George Brown. Our catchment area is Windsor, Slough, Maidenhead and surrounding parishes. But since its inauguration we have been joined by many people who are interested in family history even though their roots may not be in this area.
Everyone has roots and trying to find them can become a maddening but fascinating hobby: maddening because it can mean spending hours and hours in Record Offices poring over dusty old documents, only to find that you have come up against a brick wall. Or perhaps you begin to doubt your ancestors’ morals. Why can’t you find the marriage of your
Great Great Grandfather William? Did he go to Timbuctoo or Outer Mongolia for his wedding, in spite of the fact that he was born and bred in Whitechapel and worked all his life as a cutler in the High Street? Or worse, didn’t he bother to get married at all although he fathered eight children?
It is fascinating because family history is not just compiling genealogical charts full of names and dates and nothing else. Family historians appreciate that their ancestors were human beings just like ourselves, who lived, loved and died as we all do. So as well as finding out when they were born, who they married and when they died, we also have to study many other subjects.
For instance, local history: what was Windsor like in the 18th century when Great Grandma Eliza Jane lived there and Market Street was still known as Butcher Row? The architecture of churches: who built that lovely old church at Clewer where Great Great Grandfather Joseph was baptised? Heraldry: how lovely to find that you have a coat of arms in the family, it makes you feel so distinguished. But what on earth is the meaning of ‘the field‘, ‘gules‘, ‘’ordinaires‘ and even worse, ‘the sinister side‘? Social history: you discover how hard life was for the ordinary man and woman in Victorian times, even though the country itself was so prosperous. How did Great Grandma Charlotte manage, widowed at 38 with five children to bring up and no National Health and Social Security available? No wonder children were made to go out to work at the age of 10 or 11. Then what about the history of Great Britain itself; how did the 100 Years War affect your forebears, or the Civil War or even the sinking of the ‘Mary Rose’? Or what did it mean when people were saying ‘Give us back our 11 days’, in the year 1752.
Therefore at our monthly meetings we arrange for experts to lecture to us on all these subjects, and many more besides, of interest to family historians and genealogists.
At our teach-in sessions, we advise our newer members where to find wills, census returns, birth, marriage and death certificates and of the usefulness of such records as Land Tax Assessments and Settlement Certificates.
At other monthly meetings, we ask members to give a short talk on their own experiences in tracing their ancestors; the problems they have been up against and how they have solved them. I myself belong to the ‘Guild of One-Name Studies’, that is I am researching the name of ‘Hems’ all over the world. So, I told members how I had set about getting in touch with bearers of this old name and how interesting I had found their replies. And how I had even met one American lady when she was in London and drawn up a chart for her, going back six generations, much to our mutual pleasure.
As a society, we also publish a magazine ‘Heritage‘ four times a year and exchange it for the magazines from societies all over the British Isles and many overseas countries as well.
We also carry out a certain number of outside projects. A few hard-working members visit local churches, making a map of the churchyard and then systematically recording all the monument inscriptions. This is a very worthwhile project as many old gravestones are crumbling away, thus destroying vital information for family historians. Other members have spent many hours transcribing old parish registers and census returns and carefully indexing them. By these projects, we accumulate information on many people who have lived locally in days gone by.
Finally, we receive and answer a steady stream of enquiries from people hoping we can help them to trace their elusive ancestors. The study of family history has become a truly international hobby and as I, as Secretary, answer some of these queries from such far away countries as Australia, New Zealand, America and Canada. I like to think I am playing a small part in furthering worldwide peace and understanding.
Barbara Bassil
Windsor Local History Group 