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CHAIRMAN Box G, 14 Charterhouse Buildings Peter Walker Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA 24 Bacons Drive Tel: 0800 011 2182 Cuffley E-mail: [email protected] Hertfordshire Website: www.one-name.org EN6 4DU Registered as a charity in England 01707 873778 Guild information and Wales No. 802048 [email protected] Sales VICE-CHAIRMAN Paul Millington AS well as Guild publications, the President 58 Belmont Street Sales Manager has a supply of Jour- Derek A Palgrave MA FRHistS FSG Worcester nal folders, ties, lapel badges and Worcestershire back issues of the Journal. The Vice-Presidents WR3 8NN address is: Ernest Hamley 01905 745217 John Hebden [email protected] Howard Benbrook Alec Tritton 7 Amber Hill SECRETARY Camberley Kirsty Gray Surrey 11 Brendon Close GU15 1EB Tilehurst, Reading England Berkshire RG30 6EA E-mail enquiries to: Guild Committee 0118 941 4833 [email protected] The Committee consists of the four [email protected] Officers, plus the following: Forum TREASURER Howard Benbrook Cliff Kemball THIS online discussion forum is Rod Clayburn 168 Green Lane open to any member with access to Peter Copsey Chislehurst e-mail. You can join the list by Roger Goacher Kent BR7 6AY sending a message with your mem- Barbara Harvey 0208 467 8865 bership number to: [email protected] Roy Rayment [email protected] Roy Stockdill To e-mail a message to the forum, Ken Toll send it to: Sandra Turner * * * * * * * * * * * * [email protected] Steven Whitaker REGISTRAR Regional Representatives Bookstall & Sales Manager Roger Goacher A LIST of Regional Representatives Howard Benbrook Springwood of the Guild in a number of UK Forum Manager Furzefield Road counties and overseas can be found Sharon Symons East Grinstead on the inside back cover of this Regional Reps Co-ordinator W Sussex RH19 2EF Journal. If you are interested in Sandra Turner 01342 326663 becoming a Regional Rep, please [email protected] Website Manager contact the Regional Representa- Paul Millington tives Co-ordinator, Sandra Turner EDITOR (address and phone number on the Roy Stockdill inside back cover). 6 First Avenue SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMEN Garston, Watford Executive Peter Walker The Journal of One-Name Studies is Herts WD25 9PZ Marketing Kirsty Gray published quarterly by the Guild of 01923 893735 Seminar Dominic Johnson One-Name Studies and printed by [email protected] Flexpress Ltd, 5 Saxby St, Leicester ISSN 0262-4842 © Journal of One-Name Studies Volume 9 Issue 5 January–March 2007

MAIN ARTICLES 6 If we all waited to publish our one-name study until we felt we had found the ultimate answer, we would probably not publish at all – COVER STORY PETER WALKER asks: “What does it all mean?” with an in-depth look at his own ONS and urges members to think about publishing their studies 14 How the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864 washed away a family’s aitch – COVER STORY STEVE TANNER finds an unusual factor in a surname spelling change 16 I’m not convinced DNA tests are the answer to all our genealogical problems ELSE CHURCHILL questions the value of DNA testing for genealogy GUILD REPORTS • NEWS • EVENTS 17 Celebrating 100 issues of the Journal – how to use your free CD 19 Report on the Hounslow Computer Seminar • Guild Conference latest 20 Treasurer’s Notes • Marriage Challenge update 21 Update on forthcoming Guild seminars 25 Family history embarks on a brave new world with new-look SoG Fair • Marjorie Moore Memorial Lecture • Scottish FHSs to meet in Inverness REGULARS 4 From the Chairman’s keyboard PETER WALKER 22 A View From The Bookstall HOWARD BENBROOK 24 Registrar’s Notes ROGER GOACHER 26 Reviews of new genealogy books and CDs

ARTICLES, letters and other contributions are welcomed from members, especially accompanied by illustrations, and should be sent to the Editor. Publication dates will normally be the first day of January, April, July and October. Copyright of material is to the Editor and Publishers of the Journal of One- Name Studies and the author. No material may be reproduced in part or in whole without the prior permission of the publishers. The views expressed in the Journal are those of individual contributors and are not necessarily those of the Committee of the Guild of One-Name Studies. The distribution list for this Journal, and the information in the Register Update, is based on the information held in the Guild database on the first of the month preceding the issue date.

3 Guild Forum debates a controversial topic – should some public data be private?

O DOUBT you will recall Ken Toll’s review in the April Journal go beyond the mere collection of about the Surname Profiler website, where you can see data to create information on distributions for many surnames in both 1881 and 1998. You people and families, knowledge may also recall that I had hoped to collaborate with the team of how the name has developed that created the site, so that it might link with names being studied by and an understanding of the pro- Guild members and also allow visitors to add alternative views on the cesses that made this happen. origins of the names. Whether we are any wiser for all But this was an academic our respective names, including this, I’ll leave to others! research project and, sad to say, on living people. But the data Two broad attitudes emerge in there is now no further funding does not relate to our relatives, these debates. On the one side to develop the site, so the ideas I but often to people completely are those who are driven by prin- had are now unlikely to happen. unrelated to us. Not everyone ciples, be it the principle of free As many of you know, a similar will be comfortable with the idea What are the Data Protection Prin- fate has overtaken the wonderful that a complete stranger has so ciples? The Data Protection Act Leicestershire University Historical much information on them. states that anyone who processes Directories website. The site is personal information must comply still there for now, but no further Private or public with eight principles. These state additions are being made. We are A range of views were that information must be: used to the idea of archives hold- expressed and members seem to •Fairly and lawfully processed. ing material for centuries, but have a variety of ways in which •Processed for limited pur- these modern creations seem they choose to keep some data poses. likely to be much more transitory. private and the rest public. Many •Adequate, relevant and not As last quarter, I have noticed felt it was important not to pub- excessive. how some topics frequently reap- lish anything which might relate •Accurate and up to date. pear on the Forum discussions to living people, while others, •Not kept for longer than is and each time seem to generate notably championed by our Edi- necessary. a lot of controversy and passion tor, Roy Stockdill, felt that any •Processed in line with on all sides. This time the issue publicly available data should be individuals’ rights. embraces the linked topics of capable of being published with- •Secure. privacy, data protection and out limitation. •Not transferred to other coun- copyright. The common theme One perspective that perhaps tries without adequate protection. connecting these is data: are peo- wasn’t developed in the debate is “Processing” includes data cap- ples’ vital records private or that the information we hold ture, storage, performing opera- public? Is sharing data on living usually goes beyond the pure tions on it (including combining it people acceptable, even when publicly available facts. When we with other data), retrieval, dis- the data is publicly available? Do link a birth to a marriage and closure, dissemination and you have any rights if people thence to offspring we are cre- erasure. publish your research data on the ating a body of data which has web? Can you “own” this data? greater information than the sum speech, the principle of the right Without doubt, this issue of the parts. I am reminded of to know, the principle of peoples’ affects one-namers far more than the hierarchy of information that right of privacy, or the principle traditional family historians. Data goes something like this: of “publish and be damned”. is the bread and butter of a one- Data > Information > Knowledge On the other side are those name study and we are all > Understanding > Wisdom who seek a definitive truth and encouraged to collect all data on When we study our names we look to an analysis of the law to

4 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 provide answers. In their separate I was appalled to find that some of defence, the Information Com- ways, both approaches are my own family ancestry had been missioner has now confirmed that doomed to fail, because neither placed on the IGI, presumably by historic electoral rolls are not takes sufficient notice of the someone who had acquired a covered by the recent changes of human, subjective aspects of the GEDCOM file originating from me. I the law concerning current elec- problem. may have trusted the person I sent toral rolls. What I find acceptable may be it to, but information does have a A related issue is the quite different from someone habit of getting passed on. When I unwanted sharing of your infor- else. Many people will be far less recorded the death of Joseph mation with others. It is often aware than we are of how much Hollyer, my 3xgt-grandfather, in galling to see your work “stolen” personal data is publicly available 1887, I filled in the place of death by others (see sidebox) and dur- and how easy it can now be to as 2 Crystal Palace Station Road, ing the Forum debate this raised link people together and draw Penge. I omitted to state a county the issue of what was subject to conclusions. So your principles or a country because the death copyright, since facts cannot be aren’t their principles. certificate didn’t include this the subject of copyright. What of the law? Laws like the information and, in any event, I Copyright is one of a group of UK (European) Data Protection know where Penge is. When the Intellectual Property Rights, Law were originally designed to Mormons processed my data file, which also embraces Designs, protect misuse of your personal the street address was removed Patents, Trademarks etc. details by big organisations, not but someone decided that Penge Copyright protects creative and other people. But, unfortunately, must mean the place in Transvaal, artistic works, so cannot cover most laws are written to include South Africa. This “fact” cannot be facts, but can cover layouts used both “legal” and “natural” per- changed or removed. Never again to publish a work, whether a sons. There are numerous let-outs will I share information in this way. book or a website. Furthermore, for domestic use, education, given the lack of precision research, journalism etc, which prosecution is real. The Informa- amongst copyright laws across only add to the complexity of the tion Commissioner is unlikely to Europe, the EU countries adopted law rather than provide greater want to waste public money pur- a Database Directive which gives clarity. Furthermore, there are no suing individual genealogists and protection to the assembly of specific offences under this law; even action against companies is data in a database, even if the rather, actions are potentially only taken when there have been individual data items cannot be deemed to breach certain data persistent breaches of the rules. copyright. So we do have rights. protection principles (see sidebox The only people who might have But what good are these if we on the opposite page). So the the money and motivation to don’t have the financial means to current opinion of the Informa- prosecute are certain public prosecute? Also, there’s a good tion Commissioner may be highly figures and celebrities who seem chance that the information was relevant and so will any appli- to think that, despite their high “stolen” by someone in another cable case law. But nothing is public profiles, they should have country. Dick Eastman covered black and white, so ultimately the some special right of privacy. this same topic in his Online law does not provide the clarity It seems to me that there is a Genealogical Newsletter recently of answer some would hope for. world of difference between and concluded that if your don’t Any advice the Information someone knowing the names of want others to republish your Commissioner’s Office might give your parents and having a long information, then don’t share it – has no legal effect and will photographic lens prying into with anyone! usually be provided with the your home. But this hasn’t stop- My own conclusion on these warning: “Ultimately it would be ped a proposed new law in topics is that given the diverse for the courts to decide.” Add to Ireland which would seek to prev- cultures our studies embrace, that the problem that one- ent information about people there will inevitably be a wide namers are spread across the being published if the individual range of assumptions about world in different jurisdictions thought it breached their privacy, privacy, so I can only emphasize with quite different laws and also even if the facts were already the importance of putting your that we share data across publicly available. We have to principles and the “letter of the national boundaries and the keep vigilant about such bad law. law” to one side and focus problem becomes impossible to Not only that, but we must watch instead on respecting the feelings resolve through legal analysis. out for existing laws incorrectly of living people. The USA, for example, is well applied. Roy Stockdill reports that And don’t share all your infor- known for giving greater a certain record office removed mation with others unless you emphasis to Freedom of Informa- all its historic collection of elec- are happy to have it (and its tion than Data Protection. toral rolls because the staff inevitable collection of errors and Ultimately, laws will only be thought these contained private “work in progress”) copied as important if the likelihood of information. Thanks to a stout “truth” for everyone to see. ❍

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 5 What does it all mean? If we all waited to publish our one-name study until we felt we had found the ultimate answer, we would probably not publish at all

WHAT does it all mean? What’s the point? Why am I ings and assembled some pedigrees, convinced that doing this and how long will it take me? These are with a little more research they would prove that all surely questions just about every one-namer has the various Hollyer families were related. After all, asked themselves at some stage of their researches, given the fact that so many of the different families especially when feeling overwhelmed with the all seemed to have an artistic streak, surely there sheer weight of the results! In this special article, must be a connection? Guild Chairman PETER WALKER asks himself the Indeed, my Hollyers were signwriters, artists on same questions – and tries to give the answers. glass and the more traditional artists on canvas. The In February the Guild is holding a seminar on other large group of Hollyers were engravers and Publishing Your One-Name Study and we hope photographers. It occurred to me that these Peter’s article of extended length and detail about researchers – all from the USA and Canada – had not his own study will give other members some idea of done any basic collection of BMDs, since they were at least one approach to the topic. working on the other side of the Atlantic with no easy way to acquire the information stored away at F I WERE AN academic, I would have called that time in Somerset House. this article something like On the origins, Too much of their output was speculation, but distribution and growth of the Hollier name the family stories and collected memorabilia was (and variants) in England 1275-1900, but I fascinating and stimulating. Not long after this, I make no great pret- discovered that a Harry Holyer was researching the ence for the depth of names HOLYER, HOLLYER and HOLLIER through the scholarly insight in Guild and he was able to tell me a good deal about what follows. my own Hollyer line and how it connected to his No one-name study Holyer family from Woodchurch in Kent. It turned is ever complete and out we were 5th cousins, once removed. He was mine is no exception. I able to assist me with some of the other Hollyer dream of the day lines and it quickly became clear it was highly when some new tran- unlikely that the various families were related. che of data will magi- In 1997, Harry Holyer died and I joined the Guild cally make sense of the and took over the study of the three name variants. jumble of information I found that a lot of the basic data had not been found so far and I’ll be collected or was missing, so I had to embark on able to impress every- much work to get the study on a sound footing. one with the depth of By PETER my research. • Where did the name originate from? ALKER As an alternative, I The evidence bequeathed to me included quotes W offer these “Notes on from surname dictionaries and sundry speculative work in progress”, recognising that if we all waited sources. It’s worth looking at some of these sources, to publish until we felt we had found the ultimate though some of the smaller books on surnames answer, we would probably not publish at all. If make no mention at all of the Hollier name or its what follows is not particularly startling, I apologise variants. It can be helpful to do so in chronological in advance; but, on the other hand, perhaps it will order, for it must be the case that authors have encourage more of you to publish something about surveyed earlier works when compiling their own. your studies. The earliest surname dictionary mentioning the Hollier name is Patronimica Britannica: a Dictionary • How did I start? of the family names of the United Kingdom, pub- While researching my Hollyer ancestry (my lished by Mark Anthony Lower in 1860. All he has to mother’s maiden name), I found that a relation in say is that Hollier is a mispronunciation of Hellyer, Canada had accumulated a lot of research from but at least he correctly identifies the latter name as several others who were researching the name in a West Country name, meaning a thatcher or tiler. the 1950s and 1960s. They had collated their find- The mistake of believing that there is a connection

6 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 between Hollier and Hellier lives on to this day in him, there is much inaccurate speculation in his sundry Internet sites selling “family coats of arms”. work. But his dictionary goes slightly further than To be told that the heart of the Hollier name is in his earlier one by saying: Devon is such obvious nonsense that their assump- Hollyer, Hollier (1) Baptised ‘the son of Oliver’, tion of its connection with Hellier (which is a Devon from the modified Ollier, q.v. Aspirates present no name) is soon discovered. Such sites peddling difficulty, as will be seen from a perusal of letter phoney arms are not above providing phoney facts ‘H’. (2) Local, ‘the hollyer’, one who dwelt by the as well, as long as they make money. holly-bushes; cf Bridger or Holmer. Of course, Mind you, I note that John Titford, in his 2002 Hillier (q.v.) may be the parent. book Searching for Surnames, quotes the Hellier name as being Cornish, rather than from Devon, and My research and that of others studying the despite the fact that the evidence points more name Ollier does not support the idea of a link towards Devon, it has always seemed to me to between the surnames; the distribution is quite sound Cornish, perhaps thinking of places like different and, curiously, Ollier only seems to appear Helston. in the 17th century, in Cheshire, so this might indi- cate French immigration. However, some Olliers did Overlap change their name to Hollier in the 19th century. I In the other direction, the Hellier name does will return to the Ollier / Hollier link later. overlap into Somerset and there’s still an outside While not strictly a dictionary, the work of H. B. possibility that the Somerset Holliers that seem to Guppy called The Homes of Family Names in Great Britain is of interest. Published in 1890, it attempts Now here’s an item of trivia! The word Holyer is a to list where common family names were found in word in the Cornish language, which apparently the 19th century, often using farmers as a group of means “follower” or “partisan”. There is a com- people who are likely to have stayed near their petition for works written in Cornish called roots. But all he comes up with is a reference from Holyer an Gof, which is said to mean “Voice of Nichol’s work, Leicestershire, where he quotes that the Smith”, which leaves me no wiser as to what “James Hollier was a landowner in Hinckley at the precisely holyer means. commencement of this century”. Indeed he was, but this rather ignores the many other Hollier (and emerge in the mid 18th century might be connected variant) families living in Warwickshire, Somerset, with a variation from Hellier. Hampshire and Kent. A rather obscure early source is the 1864 work by Ernest Weekly published his book Surnames in Robert Ferguson entitled The Teutonic name system 1916. He says: of France, Germany and England. Ferguson analyses First it must be noted that many surnames the Anglo-Saxon word hold, meaning faithful or [ending] in –er, suggesting an occupation or habit, friendly, and draws links to the words hulths in do not belong to this class at all. Some of them are Gothic, holt in Old High German and hollr in Old Anglo-Saxon personals e.g. Asker, Asher, Asser from Norse. He suggests that this is the origin of the the Anglo-Saxon Æschere, Fricker from the AS surnames Holder, Holter and Holler in English, Frithugar, Hollier, Hullyer from the AS Holdgar. Hollier in French and Holder in Modern German. He quotes as an example a William f. Holdeger in Obscure it may be, but I suspect that this is the the Pipe Rolls. reason behind the Church of Latter Day Saint’s The next work of note is William Dodgson Bow- decision to group Hollier along with Holder and man’s 1931 publication, The Story of Surnames. In Holler etc in their well-known FamilySearch website. discussing the Anglicisation of French names, in The Rev. Charles Wareing Bardsley was another of particular Huguenot ones, he quotes the names the early researchers into surname origins. In his Olier and D’Olyer as being “now Hollyer”. As is so 1873 work English Surnames, he discusses locative often the case with surname books, he offers no names and says that there are many cases where a evidence and I’m confident that there are no Hol- place-word is suffixed by a word equally signifying lyers who have any connection with the D’Olier residence, these being er and man. He then gives family. examples of people who might have lived by a The D’Olier family originally used the name Olier particular tree, such as Beecher, Asher, Oker, Hollier when they were resident in France and added the or Holleyman. In the index, he does give one early “D’” prefix when, like so many other Huguenots, reference to the name, a William Holyer as men- they escaped to Holland, but wanted to emphasize tioned in Broomfield’s History of Norfolk. their French origins. A descendant of this family, Bardsley’s A Dictionary of English and Welsh Isaac D’Olier, came over with William of Orange and Surnames was published posthumously in 1901. fought in Ireland. He was part of the group encour- Bardsley was neither a linguist nor a philologist. aged to settle in Dublin to increase the Protestant While he was well intentioned, he was not perhaps community. as rigorous as later writers. He did not seek out the But many of the firms who sell instant family earliest references to the name and like others after histories, especially those in Ireland, repeat the

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 7 supposed D’Olier-Hollyer connection as fact. The tionary of Surnames. They opt for the occupational D’Olier family became quite prominent in Dublin explanation meaning brothel-keeper: and there is a street called D’Olier Street just south Middle English and Old French hol(l)ier (a dissimi- of the famous O’Connell Bridge in the centre of the lated variant of horier, agent noun from hore, hure, city. The locals pronounce it as “Doll-ear” Street. a whore, of Germanic origin). It may also have been Gustav Fransson in his book Middle English used as an abusive nickname. Variants: Hollyer, Surnames of Occupation 1100-1350, with an excur- Hullyer, Hollister (originally a feminine form; cf sion on toponymical surnames (1935) mentions that Baxter). names ending in -ere or -iere denote someone who Moving forward to more recent times, the flow lives by a particular topographical feature, e.g. of books doesn’t cease. A History of British Sur- Bechere denotes someone who lives by a beech tree. names by R.A. McKinley (1990) says: “Some He cites four examples of early names as follows:- occupational names, including some quite common • Adam le Holyer, 1319, Subsidy Roll, Essex ones, exist in pairs; examples are Baker and Baxter, • Adam Holier, 1332, Subsidy Roll, Essex Brewer and Brewster, Deemer and Dempster ⁄ Hollier • Robert le Holare, 1275, Subsidy Roll, Worcs and Hollister”. He goes on to explain that the • John Holere, 1295, Gaol Delivery Roll, Norfolk considered view is that the second names are femi- and explains that these names mean “dweller by the nine forms of the occupation terms. hole, cavity or hollow place”. I am grateful to Peter So what are we to make of all this? We have to McClure for this information. He told me that names accept much of the evidence of the expert philol- of this form are actually most frequent in Sussex and ogists and I’ve no doubt that Hollier may well have the adjoining counties. They are also found in meant a person living close to either a holly tree or Somerset and Worcestershire and occasionally in the a hollow. It seems harder to accept when a surname East Midlands. became hereditary that anyone would be happy to carry on the byname or nickname of their father if it Respected meant a brother-keeper! But then, I suppose you The best known and probably most respected could say the same of names like Cruikshank (bent surname dictionary is that produced in 1958 by P. H. leg). Perhaps when names became hereditary, the Reaney and revised over many years, including by R. individuals themselves didn’t actually have a free M. Wilson, up to 1997. He says: choice. Hollier, Hollyer, Hullyer Now both George Redmonds and David Hey Robert le Holyere 1309 Lay Subsidy Beds. caution against accepting the evidence from these Adam Holiere 1327 Lay Subsidy Essex surname dictionaries, however scholarly they may Old French: holier, huler, a variant of horier, be. The more modern approach asks us to interpret hurier the work of philologists alongside the genealogical Middle English: holer, holyer, huller evidence. The early names quoted by Reaney may ‘whoremonger, debauchee’. perhaps be just bynames and not hereditary, but in Penguin produced a Dictionary of Surnames in any event, even if they were hereditary, they may 1967, authored by Basil Cottle. He treads familiar have died out and not be the source of the surname ground by referencing the name as an occupational in more recent times. name meaning “whoremonger” from Old French or a locative name meaning “dweller in the hollies” • What of the evidence? from Old English. So how does the evidence stack up from the work 1969 saw the publication of Henry Harrison’s I’ve done on the names? Firstly, the names Hollier, Surnames of the United Kingdom. He correctly Hillier, Hellier and Hullier are quite distinct. Only identifies the three variants as being Hollier, Hollyer with Hallier is there a question mark. Hillier is and Holyer and opts for the locative explanation focussed on Wiltshire, Hellier in Devon (though the “dweller by the Holly Tree(s)”, quoting the Middle overlap in Somerset cannot be ignored) and Hullier English holie and holin and the Old English hole(g)n. is very strongly based in Cambridgeshire. Hullyer / Sir William Addison, in his 1978 book Understand- Hullier is so focussed on northern Cambridgeshire ing English Surnames, says “Few, for example, will that I am prepared to accept the explanation that it know that Hollyer is said to be derived from the Old is a Dutch name brought over to England by the French word for whoremonger or fornicator” – dyke builders of the 17th century, who did so much more or less quoting from Reaney. to drain the Fens. Hallier, when not a transcription In 1989, another major dictionary was published error for Hollier, is almost entirely associated with by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges, called A Dic- Wickwar in Gloucestershire, at least when using the Can my one-name surname really mean a whoremonger or a brothel keeper?

8 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 IGI as a source. Given the lack of Holliers in Glouces- Wales, the North of England and East Anglia. tershire, it seemed these were separate names. But • There is a focussed group that starts from a then I noticed that the name Hollister (said to be a single point in North Warwickshire and expands out feminine form of Hollier, you’ll recall) is, from the over time. IGI data, also strongly focussed in the Wickwar area • Across much of Southern England, there is a of Gloucestershire. Even the 1881 Surname Atlas CD spread of locations where the name is found, with shows this fairly well. So far, I haven’t been able to no particular pattern or focus figure out whether this is a coincidence or if it may The Warwickshire group seems to be a single be significant to the origins of the name. family origin. An early reference is from 1325 and Both Reaney and Fransson quote a number of mentions an Adam de Holyer being witness to a early records of what they consider might be land deed at Canley in Stoneleigh. The focus of the ancestors of today’s Hollier families. The problem is family seems to be Shustoke, where there is a record that all the distribution evidence suggests that from 1373 of a John Holyer, bailiff of John de Essex, Bedfordshire and Norfolk cannot be the Clynton, knight, in his manor of Shustoke, Warwick- source of the name as it developed from the late shire. In 1433 there is a record of a Roger Holyer Middle Ages. The name is almost unknown in these holding property in the nearby parish of Arley. counties. Yes, I have found some other early records By the time parish registers started in 1538, there from these counties, but both the Bedfordshire and are frequent records of Hollyers at Shustoke and Norfolk ones seem to be Hullyer, rather than Hollier, surrounding parishes in North Warwickshire. though spelling is hardly stable in these early times. However, the name had also by that time spread out to the neighbouring counties of Staffordshire, Distribution Leicestershire, Derbyshire, and Oxfordshire. Families The true distribution of the name can be found in Worcestershire may also be part of this expansion. from the early records in the IGI. I plotted these in The fact that this group almost certainly has a single Steve Archer’s Genmap and, to remove the impact family origin, does not mean that the name in this of any single transcription errors, only plotted case is locative. As David Hey has shown, names with parishes with two or more records before 1700. The an occupational origin may become hereditary just plot is based on the 1992 version of the IGI, so does once. However. landowners and bailiffs don’t sound not include any Holliers in the Isle of Wight, but like candidates to have been brothel keepers! In contrast, the pattern in the Southern counties may suggest several independent origins, consistent with the idea of the name being locative. That said, several of the locations are quite close to the coast, so migration by sea is a possibility. Early settle- ments include: • Berkshire, mainly around Reading. • Hampshire, in the New Forest area and the Isle of Wight. • Sussex, at Hooe. • Kent, in the Romney Marsh area In the manuscripts of the Corporation of New Romney there is a reference from 1399 of a Robert Holier being paid to ride to Sandwich, London and along the coast “to obtain news as to the arrival of the present King” [Henry IV]. There was also a Holyer family owning land at Hooe in East Sussex with an earliest known reference from 1440. A record of 1444 suggests that the lan- downer at Hooe was ”John Holyer of Figure 1 – distribution of Holliers from Canterbury”, so suggesting a link back to the IGI, plotted with Genmap Kent. The Hooe community thrived for a equally does not feature the more recent influx of long time, but disappeared in the 18th century. patron submissions. The result is shown in Figure 1. Equally, the Berkshire group dwindled in the 19th What it shows is very interesting, though not as century and no modern families descend from these dramatically focussed as those which David Hey has groups. published in his books to show how families tended If some groups died out, others suddenly to stay close to their origins. There are a number of expanded. Several instances can be found where features of the distribution that are of note: expansion originates with a single “portal couple”. • The name is almost unknown in Scotland, Other early lines die out (at least the male ones

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 9 carrying the surname), while all later families Hollyer/Holliers were well established by the begin- descend from this single couple. There are a handful ning of the surviving parish registers in 1642, that all of records of the Holyer name in Kent, starting with the 19th century Hollyer and Hollier families in the the 1399 event mentioned above. But it was when Portsea district originate and all these from just one John Holyer married Elizabeth Gregory in 1737 in couple who married in 1776. Canterbury Cathedral and settled in Woodchurch, to What’s so special about the concept of a “portal the north of the Romney Marsh area, that the couple”? Within every family group there must be a extensive Holyer and Hollyer families from Kent single couple who were the progenitors of that line, expanded to be the dominant group that persists to the ancestors of all known modern members of that this day. My own line is from this family, as are all family. What is surprising to me is that of the four modern day Holyers, and they all descend from this cases described above, in three (Kent, Somerset and one couple. Hampshire) the “portal couple” are also the earliest A similar situation occurs in Somerset. A tiny proven ancestors I have found in that line. handful of early records have been found, though In Family Names and Family History, David Hey those at Nunney and Wells are likely to be transcrip- has analysed the distribution of many surnames and tion errors for Hellier, a name which is found shown how many names, despite spreading far and principally in Devon, but crossing over into Somer- wide, still tend to focus around their point of origin. set. But then Samuel Hollier married Grace Plumbly To keep his research within reasonable bounds, he in Burrington in 1749 and the first two generations only collected and plotted deaths in the period of their descendants produced plenty of males who 1842-1846, as this would represent individuals produced big families and by the 19th century the probably still living close to their roots. As one- Somerset Holliers, concentrated in a handful of namers we tend to have more complete data on villages in the Axbridge Registration District, had vital records, but I thought it might be instructive to become the largest group of Holliers, even overtak- copy David’s approach to see whether the pattern ing the Warwickshire and Leicestershire groups. matched the older distributions (see Figure 2). Mutation? Aside from a single record from 1722 in the neighbouring village of Wrington, there are no other reliable earlier Hollier records from that area that I have found so far. Almost all of that part of Somerset is not included in the IGI. Had the family moved from elsewhere? Or had there been a single name mutation from Hellier which gave rise to the Holliers in this part of the country? Another example concerns the Holliers in Northamptonshire – not featuring in the IGI, but research in parish registers has shown a line starting around 1660 in Weedon (Edward Hollyard) that continues in that part of the country even today. But in the early generations virtually only one family in any generation existed. They seemed to produce too many girls for the name to expand and it hung on a thread. But then John Hollier and Sarah Leather- land, who married in 1786 in Lower Heyford, managed to produce enough boys for the line to start to expand. So again, we have a “portal couple” through which all modern day descendants have Figure 2 – Hollier distribution based their ancestry. on 1842–1846 deaths Hampshire provides a similar interesting pattern. The earliest reference to the Hollier name in Hamp- The results are mixed. Essentially, because the shire is from 1493, when a John Hollier was recorded Hollier name and variants is fairly uncommon and as owning land at Sway. Early parish register entries not focussed on a single place, the number of from the mid-16th century show Holliers at Boldre, deaths in any given registration district is usually Milford and Brockenhurst in the New Forest area. It only one or two. Only Birmingham and Axbridge seems likely that the Holliers in the Isle of Wight manage five deaths in the period 1842–1846. The descend from this group, as the earliest references presence of stray entries in Durham, Lancashire and there are in Freshwater, to the west of the island. Wiltshire distract from the underlying picture, which However, by the 19th century all the mainland does at least show the groupings in the West Mid- families except one seem to have disappeared. It is lands, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Kent. But on its only from the town of Fordingbridge, where own, the technique doesn’t deliver good results.

10 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 What this should mean is that academic researchers tion between the names? There is much stronger can gain benefit from drawing on the larger bodies evidence that Ollier may be a Huguenot name and of data collected by one-namers. as noted above, it seems that the Huguenot Society have opined that Ollier and Hollier are the same • The Huguenot problem name. In his 2004 book The Distinctive Surnames of I have already noted that some sources quote the North Staffordshire, Edgar Tooth states: Hollier name as being derived from the Huguenot Hollier is usually construed as a nickname for a Isaac D’Olier, who came over with William of lecher, whereas Ollier is a maker or seller of oil. Orange and settled in Dublin, being admitted as a Yet these two surnames occur side by side during burgess of the city in 1697. Clearly, he would not be the 1500s in the Penkridge parish registers; the source of families recorded in Warwickshire Thomas Hollyer buried on June 5th 1573, and from 1325. Yet the idea of a Huguenot link persists. Margaret Ollier baptised on April 5th 1579. The It is probably due to the rather similar name Ollier, loss or addition of the initial ”H“ is almost which is principally found in a very focussed area in universal in local dialects, so there is no problem Cheshire and North Staffordshire. Indeed, not only is here on that score, so the likelihood remains it focussed even in relatively recent times, but there that the two names are simply variants of each seem to be no records prior to the mid 17th century. other and are toponymics for a dweller by a Stella Walker (no relation) who has researched holly bush. the line, suggests that “it is probably French or Huguenot and it seems possible two or three I choose to disagree. To reach such a firm conclu- brothers came to Cheshire in the 17th century and sion based on just one baptism and one burial is probably most of the Olliers in England are poor analysis. The fact that neither Ollier nor Hollyer descended from them”. Lawrence Ollier has also seem to feature again in Penkridge is ignored. The researched this name and concludes that perhaps facts seem to suggest both these people are either their origin was slightly earlier in the 16th century strays from the more common territories of their but probably not before this. Supporting the idea of respective surnames, or one is simply a transcription French immigrants, he finds the frequent early use error by the parish clerk. Only if there was con- of spellings like Oleheyer. Say that phonetically and tinuous co-existence of the name variants over its French origin is clear. Of interest is a will of 1705 several generations would it be safe to assume that of William Oleheyer who signs as William Ollier. the spellings were interchangeable, as is the case for Hollyer and Hollier in Warwickshire. It is sad to see Surgeon such poor research in such an important book. John Blandy, a respected retired urologist, wrote a paper about Thomas Hollier, Samuel Pepys’s • Origins elsewhere surgeon, and postulated the idea that Hollier was As our studies are worldwide, I need to say successful as a lithotomist because he used a secret something about the origins of the name elsewhere. operation to remove bladder stones known only to Occurrences of the the name as found in Canada, the Huguenots. And, he said, Thomas Hollier was a Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India have Huguenot. When I challenged this, knowing Thomas all been traced back to emigrants from England. Hollier, the surgeon, came from a lowly family of Several US families also originate from England, but cobblers in Coventry, he said he was told this by the the notable exception is the Hollier name in Huguenot Society. So it seems the Huguenot Society Louisiana and nearby southern states of the USA. believes that Hollier and Ollier are the same name There the name is known to descend from three but, based on my studies, I would refute this. brothers who came from Nantes, France. in the early And yet there are some intriguing coincidences. 18th century. Even today, the Holliers in southern Some of the 18th century Hollyers in Coventry were USA pronounce their name the French way (Ol-yeah, in the silk ribbon making business for which Coven- but sometimes now pronouncing the H as well). try was then renowned, an industry created by the The US censuses also record families from Ger- immigrant Huguenots. Could some Huguenots have many and indeed the IGI and Vital Records Index do changed their name to that of Hollier / Hollyer, a show a few, but on the whole it is France where the name already in wide use in Warwickshire? Well, name is found in large numbers. Of interest is that further analysis shows these silkmen to have been the name Hollier has a distinctively different distri- descended from wine merchants and although I bution in France from the name Ollier. The other cannot positively trace this line back before a marri- factor influencing the name in the USA is the impact age in 1687, there is a quite credible possible of Anglicisation of names as immigrants came ancestry that can be found without invoking any through Ellis Island. So a Swedish Holger family Huguenot factors. became Holyer and a Ukrainian Holiat (meaning But let us return to the Ollier / Hollier issue. We Goliath) became Hollyer. know some people with the separate Cheshire / North Staffordshire name of Ollier became Holliers • Name variants in the 19th century. But was there any other connec- As one-namers, we are familiar with the concept

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 11 of name variants. Derek Palgrave coined the term Holliger, Hollin, Hollow, Holles, Hollien, Hollies, “deviants” to distinguish between true variant Hollyar, Holyar, Hoblyn, Halyer, Helier, Hellier, names, those people themselves used, and spellings Helliar, Oliver, Ollier and Olliar. that parish clerks, census enumerators and other The reverse problem also occurs. The separate record takers used. We don’t often get to see what surnames Hallier, Hullier, Hillier, Hellier and Ollier names our forebears actually used. Evidence may can end up transcribed as Hollier. I have spent many come from signatures or MIs, but many folk left an hour pitting my wits with census indexes to find little written evidence. We know that John Holyer, “missing” members of the families. Although we all the “portal individual” of the Kent Holyers, signed his name as Holyer on his marriage bond of 1737 and on his will of 1772. But the Canterbury Cathedral registers recorded his marriage as Hollier. The sheer variation in deviant spellings within a single parish register can sometimes be surprising. Here is the sequence of baptism records from St Martin-in-the-Fields for the family of John and Elizabeth Hollier: Figure 3 – chart of deviant spelling permutations 1630 John Hollier 1632 Thomas Holliard (later buried as Hollyer) dislike the poor quality of some census indexes, 1633 Matthew Hollier there’s a certain intellectual satisfaction in tracking 1636 Samuel Hollier down mis-indexed persons – and an equal frustra- 1638 Elizabeth Hallier tion when you fail! 1639 Susanna Hollyard Of the three main variants, since the 19th century, 1642 Maria Hollyer it fair to say that Hollier dominates and is five times 1644 Symon Hollier (who is thought to have the frequency of Hollyer, while Holyer is almost emigrated to Virginia and started a dynasty of six entirely confined to the Kent family that stemmed generations called Simon Hollier) from Woodchurch. Most of the West Midlands 1646 Edward Hollierd families used the Hollier spelling. The Somerset and The addition of the final “d” is found elsewhere Oxfordshire families also used Hollier alone. in London in the 17th century. Samuel Pepys’s However, the further one goes back, more cases can surgeon, Thomas Hollier, was often referred to in be found where both Hollyer and Hollier are found the great man’s diary as Hollyard and his children’s together, in places such as Berkshire, Sussex and baptisms were variously recorded as Hollier, Hollyer, Hampshire (including the Isle of Wight). The main Hollyar, Holliar and Hollyard. The extra “d” doesn’t changes during the 19th century were the gradual sound like something a modern London accent adoption of the Hollyer spelling by some of the Kent might append, so it’s hard to know exactly how the Holyers (but both co-exist today) and a few of the name might then have been pronounced. The final Cheshire Olliers that adopted the Hollier name. “d” is not found in the North Warwickshire heart- land of the Hollier name, but has been recorded in • Prominent people Shropshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Cam- The joy of a one-name study is that you often bridgeshire and Sussex. However, the extra “d” is come across some notable people with interesting almost unknown after the 17th century. lives and connections. The Hollyer painters in my One interesting document is the PCC will of John own family are interesting, if not household names, Hollier of 1697, who was a Mercer from Shrewsbury. and I am pleased to have three examples of their He was admitted as a burgess of the city in 1664 and original work as well as prints and many other was Mayor in 1692. We can assume he was literate, images on my website. My own 2x gt-grandfather, but when his will was drawn up it was in the name George Hollyer, is said to have done the etched glass of John Hollyer, but at the end of the document he work for the famous Angel pub in Islington – which, is referred to as John Hollier. Even in legal docu- in a curious reversal of present day trends, was ments, the variation of spelling seems to have been closed and converted to a bank! considered of no importance. All the evidence I have Amongst the many interesting individuals found collected suggests the only genuine variants are during research are: Hollier, Hollyer and Holyer. However, one can draw Thomas Hollier 1609–1690 up a chart to show all the permutations of deviant Already referred to, Thomas was born in Coventry spellings that have been found (Figure 3). in 1609 and from 1629 trained in London as a Further deviant spellings are found in the census surgeon, or chirurgeon as it was often then called. and in their modern indexes. Nineteenth century He worked at both Barts and St Thomas’s Hospitals, handwriting can be hard to read and if the indexer the latter for 53 years. He is famous for operating is not native to the UK, this can add further prob- on Samuel Pepys for the removal of a large bladder lems. The following have been found: Hollyee, stone in 1658. This was in the days when such Holler, Hollger, Holger, Hallier, Holier, Holllier, surgery without anaesthetics or antiseptics often led

12 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 to death. In 1662 Thomas did 30 able for restoring Cardiff Castle from ruins. Henry consecutive stone operations went on to hold a string of public posts in Cardiff in without losing a single patient. addition to looking after the Marquess’s affairs. He He became a close friend of was admitted a Burgess in 1783, became the Town Samuel Pepys and Robert Boyle. Clerk of Cardiff (1786–1789), Bailiff (1786–1814), His portrait (left) hangs at the Clerk of the Peace (1795–1797), Clerk of the General Royal College of Surgeons of Meeting (1802), Collector of Customs (1797), and England. Alderman of Cardiff. Henry Hollier 1792–1856 Frederick Hollyer 1837–1933 Son of Henry Hollier of Cardiff, above, Henry Frederick came from a family of engravers. In junior, became Receiver General [of Taxes] of the 1869 he produced a couple of mezzo-tint engravings County in 1813 and followed his father by being of Landseer paintings, but in the 1870s became a admitted a Burgess in 1815. However, Henry appears renowned photographer. He excelled in the techni- to have embezzled the taxes and in 1818 his exten- que of high quality platinum prints. After sive estates were seized by the Crown and sold off photographing the works of Frederic Leighton, he to repay his debts. The famous bankers Coutts & Co was introduced to the Pre-Raphaelite painters and have surviving correspondence with Henry and his did work for Edward Burne-Jones, father and it appears he was always giving excuses Dante Gabriel Rossetti and G. F. for being in debt. In 1823, Henry married Mary Ann Watts, thereby bringing these Babbage, the sister of Charles Babbage, the mathe- artists and their work to a wider matician famous for his work on early mechanical audience. He was friendly with computing. Henry and Mary Ann had six children many of the Pre-Raphaelite and all the Holliers today in the Llanelly area Brotherhood, including the descend from Henry. designer William Morris. He was William Perring Hollyer 1834–1922 also in demand for his studio por- A noted 19th century painter of animals, traits and his sitters encompassed the aristocracy especially Scottish scenes. This was a popular genre and leading figures in politics, the arts and sciences. of painting, probably made so by Queen Victoria’s Richard Hollyer 1728–1778 love of everything Scottish. Five of William’s children Richard was the “father” of what I call the ‘City also became artists. Despite his love of Scottish Hollyers’. He was born in Coventry, the son of scenes, there is no evidence he actually went there. Joseph Hollyer (1691–1734). At 14, in 1742, he went But he did move around the to London and was apprenticed to a Mr J. Blakey, a country, bringing up some of his blacksmith trading as a glazier in the City. Blakey family in London and some in died and Richard was transferred to Matthew Liverpool. At the time of the Jarman to complete his appr- 1881 census, he was at Bettws-y- enticeship. Matthew Jarman Coed in North Wales. After was very prominent in the returning to London, he moved trade being Master of the to Huntingdonshire and finally Glazier’s Company in 1746. On retired to Faringdon in Oxford- completing his apprenticeship, shire. Three of William’s brothers, he became a Freeman of the including my own great-great grandfather George City of London in 1950. Later Hollyer, followed in their father’s trade of Herald the same year he married Mat- Painting. But by the mid-1850s, this had developed thew’s daughter Sarah. He was into the trade of “Artist on Glass”, using acid to etch admitted to livery in the glass, widely used in public houses for windows and Glazier’s Company on September 7 1753 and even- screens. tually followed in his father-in-law’s steps by As I said at the beginning of this article, no one- becoming Master in 1775. During his year as Master, name study is ever complete, so in that sense, there he admitted his son Matthew to the Company. can be no conclusion. Research continues to try to Towards the end of his life, with Matthew, he link more family groups together, especially those in carried out essential repairs to St Paul’s Cathedral. the Isle of Wight. Some progress is being made in Henry Hollier c1755–1830 reconstructing and linking the families in Oxford- Henry was born in India, but his ancestors were shire, but any link to the families in Warwickshire to from the extensive Hollier family of Barton under the north remains undiscovered. I try to document Needwood in Staffs. He became a civil servant in as much as I can on my website at India, but ill-health forced his move to England in www.hollyer.name and record interesting snippets 1784. Soon after, he married and moved to Cardiff, on the associated Blog. where his two children, Fanny and Henry, were I would encourage all members to write up what born. Henry had been appointed as Steward to the they know about their “name” – because there may 1st Marquess of Bute (Lord Cardiff), who was not- not ever be a better time than now. ❍

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 13 How Great Sheffield Flood of 1864 washed away a family’s aitch By STEVE TANNER

ELLOW GOONS will be familiar with one of Dale Dyke Flood disaster of March 11 1864, when a the more painstaking, mundane aspects of dam burst, killing 250 people when 650 million a one-name study – ploughing through gallons of water suddenly poured down the valley successive quarters of the General Register into Sheffield, sweeping away everything in its path. Office Indexes and noting down all the BMDs of See the Sheffield Flood Claim Archive at http:// our chosen name. extra.shu.ac.uk/sfca/ for a full account. I recently completed my listing of all the entries for HEMPSALL and the variants HEMPSHALL, HEMPSHELL, HEMPSELL and HEMSHALL. I was fortunate in that, in most cases, these are all on the same page or, at least, adjacent pages However, I had come across several instances of aitch-dropping in various censuses, the IGI and parish registers, resulting in spellings such as EMPSALL and EMSELL etc., especially in Yorkshire. These I had tended to dismiss as scribal errors, influenced by the local dialect’s dropping of the “H” in uneducated speech. I had assumed that such mistakes had become increasingly rare since the start of mass education, roughly post-1870. I knew that there was one case of EMSELL in the 1901 An artist’s impression of the dam bursting census which appeared to arise from someone previously spelt as HEM(P)SALL, but I was reluctant Thanks to the work of staff of Sheffield Univers- to start a completely new trawl through the GRO, ity, eye-witness accounts of that frightful night the more so as no living person called EMSELL had recently went online and I was amazed to find that contacted me about possible links. Joseph Hemsall and his family had a miraculous I did, however, put a brief mention in my Guild escape, as quoted in the following account (which Profile of the possibility of one or more Sheffield has the name wrong ): EMSELL families being linked to HEMPSALLs . “The first human abode which the flood reached was the small farmstead of Mr. John Empsall, called Surprise Annett House. It was situated quite in the valley, I was in for a surprise when Sue Emsell of Shef- and near the course of the river. It is swept away so field “Googled” into my profile page with search completely that no could tell that its site had even terms “Emsell–family–Sheffield”. Sue had met a been occupied by an erection of any description. brick wall with her husband’s family tree. She found House, out-buildings, and garden are all entirely that their name – EMSELL – is a very rare one, gone. The inhabitants happily escaped, in the seemingly confined to her husband’s known family following manner, as narrated to us by Mr. Empsall around Sheffield, plus a few others in West York- himself. The following is his own statement:— shire who seemed to have no connection with the ‘About seven o’clock Friday evening I went to the Sheffield family. dam, as I had been told there was a crack in the After going back as far as her husband Arthur’s bank. The people there said there was no danger – great-grandfather, William Emsell, Sue had met a it was a frost crack, and I came away. My wife, my brick wall and there was no trace of any EMSELL three boys, and a lodger named William Rose, who ancestor further back. She was amazed when I works for the Water Company, went to bed. I sat up, suggested that they were not really EMSELLs at all, because I had promised to wait for another lodger but a little lost tribe of HEMSALLs! who works for the Company, and he did not come. I had already become interested in this particular A little before twelve at night, Thomas Fish, a family who settled in Bradfield, just outside Shef- labourer, who also works for the Company, came field, in the 1850s. Joseph HEMSALL and his family running down, and shouted “It’s coming! It’s com- were tenants of a small farm called Annet House. ing!” He said Mr. Gunson had sent him. I called up The Hemsalls lost most of their possessions in the my wife, my three children, and the lodger, and got

14 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 them out. They had not time to put their clothes, After Joseph’s death in 1875, his son William but they carried them on their heads, and put them worked as a stone-breaker on the roads. In the on when they got to the road. The night was dark, censuses, when asked by an official who called at his very windy, and very cold. I had a cow and two house what his name was, William would probably calves, which I got out. The pig would not come out have replied: “‘Ems’ll” – and this would have been in time, but it and the donkey were found safe the interpreted by the census enumerator as Emsell, a next morning the bank side, where they had been name which did, in fact, already exist among a few carried by the flood. We had not been out of the people in the Dewsbury area, although from a quite house five minutes when the flood came, and swept different source, the village of South Elmsall. everything entirely away. My wife slipped down and William, whose birth certificate may have been hurt her knee. I saw my house going with every- washed away along with the rest of the family’s thing in it. Mr. Gunson came just then, and said: belongings, may have vaguely recalled that the “The house is going! The house is going.”’ 1 name had sometimes been pronounced with an H, Those further away from the dam – and, there- but would have been unable to prove it. fore, too far away to be warned – were less Sue Emsell, who makes dolls and dolls’ clothing fortunate. Bodies were washed up as far down the for dolls’ houses says: “I was surprised to find that river Don as Doncaster . we should really be Hemsall, but I don’t think we’ll Was it possible, I wondered, that the trauma of be changing the spelling – we’re too used to it. the experience, plus the destruction of whatever “We’re happy to be Emsells, and also now proud written documents the family may have possessed, of Arthur’s great-great grandfather who survived may have actually caused the loss of the “H” in this the Great Sheffield Flood, just as later members of family’s name ? the family survived the Blitz.” ❍ Joseph put in a claim for compensation and received £60 – not a lot for the loss of his home and STEVE TANNER livelihood (see the image below), Most of it would Member 4001 have gone on maintaining his family while they found alternative accommodation. By the 1871 1. From: http://mick-armitage.staff.shef.ac.uk/ census, Joseph had been forced to give up farming sheffield/book/w-page4.html). and was working as a labourer .

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 15 I’m not convinced DNA tests are the answer to all our genealogical problems

But these tests don’t resolve the huge grey area in WHILE more and more family historians – between. Firstly, they don’t take into account the especially many one-namers – are becoming effects of illegitimacy. enthusiastic about DNA testing as a means of Yes, a study of the Y chromosome might show solving genealogical problems and linking that some surnames do share a common ancestor. family groups, not everyone is yet convinced However, this success implies a high degree of that DNA tests are the Holy Grail of genealogy. faithfulness between husbands and wives. But there As the Journal has published a number of are high levels of unrecorded illegitimacy. major articles on the topic, in the interests of This non-paternity can arise from sex outside editorial balance we are also publishing this marriage, adoption or simply by taking a different one by a sceptic. ELSE CHURCHILL is the full- surname from their father (to obtain an inheritance, time Genealogy Officer at the Society of for instance). Estimates vary but in about five per Genealogists and her article first appeared in cent to 30 per cent of recorded births or baptisms the November 2006 issue of Your Family Tree. the recorded father is not the genetic father. The observed non-paternity rate By ELSE CHURCHILL for the Sykes was 1.3 per cent, and while this is low, it is sufficient for only ANY JOURNALISTS ask me whether half the Sykes to be genetically linked. family historians should bother using If the more sophisticated tests show documents and sources for their that two men with the same surname research because genetic advances have the same STR pattern at many will ultimately prove all we need to know. markers sites and within the same clade, Well, I’ve had quite a few discussions with gene- then they are likely to be closely related within the ticists and genealogists about DNA tests and I’m not past 30 generations since the name became heredi- convinced. Often the results seem to me to confirm tary. But that supposed closeness of relationship is what either common sense or historical evidence over such a long time in history that it obviously suggests already. can’t show where the genealogical or family connec- The much-publicised study of the origins of the tion might appear. name Sykes suggested that nearly 50 per cent of Similarly, Mitochondrial DNA tests seem to me to those tested had common ancestry whereas the be of very limited genealogical help. I’m not con- others presumably had varied and unrelated origins. vinced that having a guide to one’s far distant A locative or topographical name such as Sykes ethnicity really gets us very far. True, most people (meaning a ditch or stream of water) might well have trouble finding ancestors born before 1800 suggest that the name should have occurred in and DNA can reveal more distant ancestors, but several different geographical areas where local what it cannot give us is their names and nor can it dialect used the Old English term. tell us what occurred to individual ancestors in the We are meant to be surprised that so many of intervening generations out of Africa. those tested were apparently related but equally we Despite all the media hype at the time and the see that the other 50 per cent are not. The half that Guinness Book of Records’ claims, a local school- are connected may well come from a more virile or teacher is not actually a descendant of the caveman fertile progenitor. Or more probably there may be found in Cheddar Gorge. Their common maternal less people related in this group than has been ancestor lived about 3,000 years before Cheddar suggested because the particular DNA test that was man met his violent death around 7000 BC. The fact used was unsophisticated and tested very few STR that Cheddar man and Adrian Targett are related markers, making no distinction as to which haplo- very, very distantly tells us nothing about the school- groups or clade the individuals belonged to. teacher’s family history. The more sophisticated and expensive tests that By all means continue interesting surname look at more markers and other rare genetic muta- genetic studies; they are as relevant as conventional tions which would suggest a more accurate analysis one-name studies. But until the sample groups are of relationships aren’t yet being offered on the significantly larger and the tests more statistically general market for genealogists. relevant to genealogists, I reserve my judgement. ❍ DNA tests can prove that we’re definitely not related paternally or that two men probably are. © Your Family Tree magazine 2006.

16 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 Celebrating 100 issues of the Guild Journal – how to use your cover CD By Cliff Kemball and searched by Adobe Reader. A published. Search, read and copy of Adobe Reader 7 (compat- enjoy! To assist you in finding the OU WILL have found ible with Windows XP and articles you may be interested in, with this issue of the Windows 2000) has been we have included an index to all Journal a copy of the included on the CD for those who nine volumes. first-ever cover CD sup- do not already have it. To install With Acrobat Reader 7 it is plied by the Guild of One-Name Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 click on possible to search the entire PDF Studies. the link near the bottom on the files on the Guild CD. After you This disc should autoload and Introduction page. have loaded one of the PDF files provide you with an index page For members who need to on the disc click “edit” and then of the contents in your web install an earlier version of Acro- “search”. This will provide you browser. If it does not, simply use bat Reader, a copy of Acrobat with the Acrobat Reader 7 search Windows Explorer to view the Reader 6 has also been placed on facility where you type in the contents of the CD and then the CD. Use Windows Explorer to word or phrase that you want to double-click on the file, view the contents and then search for. index.html. The introduction double-click on the file, Click on the box for “All the page of the CD will then be AdbeRd60_DLM_enu_full. documents in” and then enter opened in your browser. whichever is your CD drive from Use the tabs on the left-hand Journals the drop-down menu, and then side of this page in order to navi- All 100 editions of the Guild of press “search”. You will be given gate. All the documents on this One-Name Studies’ Journals a list of all the search results. CD are in Portable Document (Volume 1, Issue 1, Winter 1981/2 Clicking on any of the results will Format (PDF) that can be read to Volume 9, Issue 4, October then bring you to the relevant 2006) are on this CD. PDF document and page and the There are well over word or phrased that has been 500 main articles and searched is highlighted. This is an numerous reviews of excellent way of finding out books and CDs, as whether your one-name surname well as letters from is mentioned in any of the Guild Guild members pro- Journals. viding their views on issues in the one- Guild Newsletters name world. Mem- Eight Newsletters were the bers will be able to precursors to the Journal and search and/or read all were published between January the interesting one- 1980 and October 1981. The name study articles Newsletters played a vital role in produced over the the early days of the Guild and last 25 years. Derek Palgrave, our President, To view an wrote an article about them in individual Journal the 100th edition of the Journal click on the image of (Volume 9, Issue 4), describing the the front cover. Much contents and paying tribute to of the advice and the early Guild pioneers who pro- guidance provided in duced and wrote articles for some of the Guild’s them. Read them and I am sure earlier Journals are you will get an understanding of just as valid today as the excitement and energy that Introduction page when they were first our founding members put into

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 17 setting up the Guild of One- surname or is available for refer- can be provided to Guild mem- Name Studies. ence purposes to enable answers bers on request (or searched by to be given to any queries raised the Guild e-librarian, if pre- Library Catalogue by members. This service is only ferred). Secondly, it identifies The Library Catalogue provides available to Guild Members. images for which the Guild e- a list of all the books currently Currently there are 500 items librarian is currently waiting for held in the Guild’s Library. in the Guild Library. The library “release” authority from the Against each book title is an indi- catalogue excludes all the mater- originators of the material to cator as to whether the book can ial previously held in the Guild enable the images to be provided be loaned out, searched by the Library which has since been to Guild members, or where such Guild Librarian for any specific digitised. Details of this material authority has been refused. are included in the Guild’s E- Items identified as “released” GUILD President DEREK PALGRAVE library catalogue. To view the E- can be made available to Guild comments on this latest initiative library catalogue, click on the box members either as an e-mail by the Guild: marked “E-library catalogue” on attachment or be sent out on a “Keeping our records, in a the left hand side of the Guild CD for a nominal cost. Where the conveniently accessible form, is an Library page. material being supplied to mem- important essential for all of us Items identified as available bers relates to an existing regis- who are involved in any aspect of for loan can on request be lent to tered name the relevant Guild research. It is especially Guild members on a trust basis. member will be informed of your noteworthy to see the Guild of Members may apply to the interest in the name, so they can One-Name Studies taking a lead in librarian – librarian@one- contact you to provide additional conserving copies of its own name.org – for the loan of mater- information where appropriate. records on CD-ROM. It means that ial on the understanding that Some of the originators of the every member will be able to refer when they return the material at material “awaiting release” are not only to all our early their own expense they will also likely to provide release authority Newsletters and the complete run reimburse the Guild for the cost in due course. If you are inter- of Journals up to No 100, but also of any outgoing postage costs ested in any digitised material a listing of the contents of the incurred on their behalf. that is currently shown as Guild’s Library, including both copyright, please contact the e- books and digitised data. E-Library librarian – elibrarian@one- “It is a source of pride to know The E-Library catalogue pro- name.org – to see if the status that our organisation is setting the vides a complete list of all the has changed. pace for the growing number of items that have been digitised as I hope you will find this CD yet specialists who are engaged in part of Guild’s digitisation pro- another valuable addition to the applying modern information ject. The catalogue, which has Guild’s services and that its avail- technology to the management of nearly 4,400 items, has been split ability will increase members’ use recorded data, its maintenance into two sections. The first sec- of the Guild Library and the Guild and ease of retrieval.“ tion identifies all the images that E-Library in the future. ❍

Library Catalogue page

18 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 ing a one-name study in a variety Hounslow Computer Seminar focused of ways. on keeping records in various programs On a personal note thanks should go to all the people who By Bob Golder gave their time to organise and HE GUILD’S regional name data from a variety of dif- take part in the seminar, running seminars are a way for ferent sources. Brian outlined the the bookstall and not forgetting members to meet and improvements made by the latest those who did the washing up exchange ideas. The version – e.g., importing data is for the tea and coffee. It contrib- ❍ emphasis of the Computer Semi- now easier and more reliable. I uted to an excellent day. nar at Hounslow last November will be upgrading to the new was how four one-namers keep version in the New Year. BOB GOLDER their records in various computer As a user of Pedigree (a DOS Member 949 programs. The members present program) who has only recently included a cross section of begin- upgraded to the windows-based Guild Conference ners and experienced users of version PediTree, I was interested BOOKINGS are going extremely computers, using a variety of in the presentations after lunch. well for the 2007 Guild Confer- different programs. Teresa Pask gave an excellent ence and AGM at Hampshire Jeanne Bunting started the day demonstration of the program Centre Court in Basingstoke next with a Welcome and Overview The Master Genealogist, showing April – so don’t delay, book presentation of the different examples of the various reports today! There is a booking form in ways in which computers can be and trees produced by this pack- this Journal mailing and bookings used by one-namers. Even experi- age. She also explained there was close at the end of January. Half enced computer users picked up a user group program that pro- the accommodation is already some tips from this presentation. vided additional support to taken. Don’t miss out on speakers How many people remember to individual users. Teresa also such as Kathy Chater, Nick Bar- back up or take copies of key explained how she found the rett, Pamela Horn, Maggie Bird data before importing gedcom program useful in transferring and many others speaking on a files into their databases? Jeanne data direct to her website and variety of topics on Lesser Known reminded everyone of the prob- made the task of keeping her Sources. lems if you do not. website up-to-date easier. There is just one consideration Sue Turner did the first of the John Hanson gave the final which you need to be aware of four main presentations on Using presentation on the program, when booking for this year’s con- General Purpose Programs, in this Family Historian. He emphasised ference. Unfortunately, there are case a combination of standard that this was a UK-based program some engineering works going word processor, spreadsheet and rather than an adaptation of a on around the Basingstoke train database packages, rather than program developed in the USA, lines, so all lines to Basingstoke dedicated genealogy programs. It such as Family Tree Maker. are closed completely from was clear Sue had spent consider- John also showed the various Friday, April 6 to Monday, April able time developing various reports available as standard and 17. The trains from London will custom reports for her ONS. I how he used the program in his terminate at Winchfield with noted one report that she had one-name study. He also indi- onward bus service; trains from developed to show the different cated that the program was Southampton will go no further census references for each person capable of exporting data to than Micheldever; and from the included in her one-name study – update a website in a straightfor- Salisbury direction buses will to show at a glance which refer- ward manner. John’s enthusiasm meet trains at Andover. There will ences (or census) were missing. for the program clearly came be no service between Reading Brian Horridge gave the next over in his presentation. and Basingstoke and there is cur- presentation on Custodian. In this Over the years I have attended rently no mention of any buses case he based his presentation on a number of regional seminars being provided. the latest version, Custodian 3. I and I have found it is often the I am sorry to be the bearer of am a user of the earlier version, question and answer sessions at this disappointing news, but at Custodian 2 – purchased willingly the end of the day that are so least you are forewarned from the Guild’s Bookstall with- helpful. I certainly picked up and hopefully forearmed, so you out my arm being twisted – and I some new ideas from these ses- can determine for yourselves how was interested to know what are sions on the day. Both John best to approach Basingstoke by the advantages of using the Hanson and Teresa Park indicated public transport. Look forward to latest version. their respective software pro- seeing you there! ❍ Custodian is not a genealogy grams were complicated, but if KIRSTY GRAY program for drawing family trees one spent time learning them in Conference Organiser but it is useful for storing one- detail they were capable of help-

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 19 Thanks to Marriage Challenge – latest update... members WHAT DOES it take to be a Chal- lenger? for Guild Firstly, the Challenger needs to be able to easily get to a County Gift Aid Records Office or other repository where parish records or micro- success form copies are kept. The Guild will pay all reasonable expenses WOULD LIKE to give a big campaign. The additional including travel (limit of £15 per “thank you” to all those money received as a result of day) subject to certain conditions. Guild members who these campaigns will continue Some of us have free travel responded to my campaign to assist the Guild in financing passes on buses which can come to get more members to sign a its various activities and prolong in useful. Gift Aid Declaration. the date when the Guild may Secondly, the Challenger must As a direct result, the Guild need to increase its subscription be able to organise data. Many has increased its revenue from rate. Do not forget that signing requests will be received and Gift Aid from around £3,500 in a Gift Aid Declaration does not these will need to be sorted into the 2004–05 financial year to cost you anything, other than a date order. A spreadsheet in Excel over £8,600 in the 2005–06 minute of your time. is a common method, or possibly financial year. Prior to the start I would also like to thank the use of a database in Works, of the campaign, the percen- those Guild members who have for instance. tage of UK members who had donated money to the Guild Third. the Challenger needs to signed Gift Aid Declarations during the 2005–06 financial be methodical and careful. A stood at 49 per cent. year. Many of these donations record must be kept of church The campaign involved send- were provided as a thank-you registers that have been searched ing out 668 emails and 188 from members for the Marriage and when a marriage entry is letters to Guild members who at Challenge certificates they had found, it must be carefully that time had not completed a received. recorded. I am finding this is Gift Aid Declaration. The per- Donations during the finan- easier said than done and centage of members who have cial year exceeded £1,000, of although giving each find a quick now signed a Gift Aid Declara- which nearly 50 per cent was in check I am still making the occa- tion has increased to 61 per response to the Guild Marriage sional mistake. cent. Challenge. So do you fit the bill? If you As at December 1, 953 UK think you do and would like to members had signed GADs, 100 Challenge give Marriage Challenge a try or UK members had previously As many of you will realise, would like to know more, please signed a deed of covenant, the Guild Marriage Challenge contact me at marriage- while a further 91 had stated has been a huge success and the [email protected]. that they were ineligible to sign number of Guild members The sheer volume of requests a GAD. Only a handful of mem- undertaking a marriage chal- that sometimes are received, par- bers have replied to say that lenge continues to increase and ticularly for the larger registra- they did not want to sign a the number of members bene- tion districts, may well put off GAD. fiting from the results of the those of you who know a little challenges also continues to about the effort put in by Chal- Success increase. lengers. There is a cure to this Whilst the Gift Aid campaign If you have been the recipient which several Challengers are has clearly been a success, there of a number of Guild Marriage adopting. This is to restrict the are still a number of Guild mem- Challenge certificates and would period of the Challenge. Make bers who did not respond to my like to donate money to the the Challenge 1837 to 1850 for request for them to sign a GAD Guild in appreciation, please instance, see how it goes and or did not let me know that send you cheque to: The Guild perhaps consider a second stage they were ineligible to sign a Treasurer, 168 Green Lane, Chis- 1851 to 1871 later. There is cer- Gift Aid Declaration. lehurst, Kent, BR7 6AY. tainly no need to go for the full There are appropriately 600 Every single donation is fully period 1837 to 1911. UK members in this category appreciated by the Guild and Marriage Challenges com- and I plan to e-mail or write to will be used to help finance the mencing in the coming months them again later this year as expenses incurred in undertak- are given in the Table. If you part of a follow-up Gift Aid ing the marriage challenges. ❍ would like to request a search for

20 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 COMPUTER SEMINAR, Novem- ber 17. Venue: Essex Record PUBLISHING YOUR ONE-NAME Ulph will be talking about Office, Wharf Road, Chelms- STUDY SEMINAR, February 17 putting all that information ford. 2007. Venue: Bletchley Park, you accumulate into a book. Wilton Avenue, Bletchley, Mil- The day will include a buffet NAMES SEMINAR, February ton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. lunch within the £20 price. 2008. Venue: Solihull Metho- Following the success of the There is a limit of 100 tickets dist Church Hall, Station Computer Seminar at Bletchley available, so book early to Approach, Solihull. Park in 2005, we are returning avoid disappointment. to the famous wartime code- JOHN HANSON PALAEOGRAPHY SEMINAR, breaking centre on February 17 Seminar organiser May 2008. Venue: TBA. We are 2007. This time the theme is still looking for a record office Publishing Your One-Name DNA SEMINAR, May 19. Venue: or library with good natural Study. Once again we will be The Nuthall Temple Commu- lighting in order to carry out departing from the normal nity Centre, Nottingham Road, this seminar – can anyone assist seminar format by having only Nuthall, Nottingham. please? three lectures and a short We are attempting to obtain question-and-answer session. the services of Guild members PRACTICAL COMPUTER SEMI- who have undertaken DNA NAR, August 2008. Venue: TBA. Park tour studies to speak at this seminar Owing to the difficulty of find- This will enable you to go on and inform us of their ing a university of college with a tour of the Park – and if you progress. a computer suite available in did it last time it will almost the summer holidays, we may certainly not be the same, as SERVICE RECORDS SEMINAR, use a venue with up to five no two guides are alike. August 18. Venue: The computers, each running a sep- The day should be another National Archives, Kew, Rich- arate FH program with a tutor action-packed one with three mond, Surrey. on hand – can anyone assist eminent Guild speakers to We have obtained the ser- please? entertain you. Maurice Hemi- vices of two specialist TNA ngway has won several Guild speakers and two non-TNA PRE 19th CENTURY ONE-NAME Awards for his Journal and will speakers. There will also be STUDIES, November 2008. be talking about producing a opportunities to undertake a Venue: TBA Newsletter; Teresa Pask has behind-the-scenes tour of The won several Guild awards for National Archives. Overseas ROD CLAYBURN her website and will look at all members might wish to note Secretary aspects of producing a one- this event for their summer Seminar Subcommittee name website; finally, Colin visit! your marriages (registered names Registration Deadline Challenger Challenger's e-mail only) send to the Challenger the District and for details from the GRO index for Period Requests the period stated either by e-mail Whitechapel 21 January Howard Benbrook [email protected] or to the Challenger’s postal 1837 - 1860 address given in the Guild Regis- Halifax 21 January Pat Lord [email protected] ter. Also, keep a watch on the 1852-1871 Guild web page for Marriage Huddersfield 21 January Pat Lord [email protected] Challenge as further Challenges 1852-1871 are announced. I am now updat- Exeter 22 January Des Gander [email protected] 1881 - 1911 ing the web page regularly early in each month. Royston 30 January Peter Hagger [email protected] 1837 - 1911 For more information on Mar- riage Challenge, what it com- Wangford 1 February Bernie Guymer [email protected] prises and how it works, see the 1837 - 1911 article in the Journal of October– Liverpool 14 February Susan Atkins [email protected] December 2005. 1852-1911 Guiltcross 1 April John Pepperdine [email protected] PETER COPSEY 1837 - 1911 rve.co.uk Marriage Challenge Wisbech 1 April John Pepperdine [email protected] Coordinator 1837 - 1911 rve.co.uk

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 21 Welcome to the heritage market, with family history set to rival gardening and antiques

ELL, I TOLD you the they come in their own little gift to be absorbed into a very differ- heat was on – now wallet, so they make great ent event, Who Do You Think someone’s turned up presents! You Are? LIVE, taking place at the gas still further. Ancestry are galloping ahead Olympia. This is something like With the significant role now as predicted, presumably because four times the size of its forerun- played by television and sup- they’re able to make more invest- ner, promises to be a major ported by professional marketing ments now that there is secure national event (think Chelsea events (see below), it looks like revenue from the subscription Flower Show) and likely to attract the cosy world of family history income. We can expect more huge crowds. It carries the secon- will be changed forever. online records once they strike dary title of The National History Welcome to the heritage mar- agreements with the owners of Show, to give you some idea. ket, something that’s set to rival the data. As I write this, they’ve Needless to say, we can’t not be the worlds of gardening and just added the Scottish census there and I’ve taken the decision antiques in the relentless pursuit records for 1851 and 1861 to the to book space for all three days, of your disposable income. existing 1841 census. so if you fancy helping out The online providers have behind the Bookstall, let me been hard at work and Turmoil know (hint: although you have to 1837online have now completed But what’s happened to Genes work, it’s likely to save you their transition to their new Reunited? Their owners, ITV, are money). brand as findmypast.com. That’s still in turmoil and I imagine not a cheap exercise, by the way, there’s confusion everywhere. I’m What’s new, what’s big? so you can see they mean busi- writing this in mid-December, so Well, they’re not big exactly, ness. there may be changes by the time but I’ve recently increased the However, the web pages all you read this but, for me, they range of those neat little books perform in the same way and the need to offer a wider range of from Shire Publications. These eagle-eyed among you will records and their overly simple titles give a brief introduction to recognise that they’ve retained search page for the 1851 and historical topics and can be very their blue and lime colour 1901 censuses misses the point – helpful to get an initial insight scheme. They’re pushing harder you’re required to use both sur- into a subject and point you to with their subscriptions, too, with name and forename. where you might find out more. an annual price tag of £65 for Of course, they have a strong access to all the BMD and census track record of bringing people records. That’s cheaper than together, and their annual fee for Ancestry but Ancestry have more under £10 is well worth the census records on offer. Mind trouble, but they’re stumbling you, that’s likely to change over with their adventure into online the coming months. records, especially if they don’t One unique line findmypast drop the price. have introduced is their Subscrip- There’s plenty of room for all tion Vouchers, which means you of these suppliers – what we can buy an annual subscription don’t want is dominance by just a without the need to submit your few. But sales of their vouchers credit card details online. They have been disappointing and I’m They’re all inexpensive, too, most work in the same way as a £5 (50 likely to withdraw my support, so under £5.00. I’ve given them their unit) voucher, but once you’ve buy now at a significant discount, own section in the latest Book- signed in you have access for a if you want to take advantage. stall Price List, so take a look if year. Needless to say, members As you will see elsewhere in you want the complete story, but can buy one from the Guild Book- this Journal, the SoG Fair over the the new titles in the Victorian/ stall with a 10% discount – and UK May Day Holiday weekend is Edwardian series are The Vic-

22 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 torian Clergyman, The Victorian significant support on the Forum as planned, only to get frustrated Chemist & Druggist (just what just a few weeks ago when the by a front wheel puncture on the was the street price of call went out for holiday reading motorway. Not a pleasant experi- laudanum?), The Victorian Iron- recommendations. The book’s not ence, but all is safe. monger, Victorian Photographers much to look at: a rather pallid However, the Guild did get at Work and The Edwardian cover and the content is devoid representation at Coventry FHS Home. of fancy graphics, but the advice Fair, Eastleigh FH Fair, Oxon FHS I also decided I didn’t have is golden. I think I’d characterise Research Open Day, Cheltenham many titles of military signifi- it with phrases like “guidance on FH Fair, Doncaster FHS Open Day, cance. Puzzled by that medal you lateral thinking”, or maybe Scarsdale FH Fair, (both of these found in Grandad’s attic? Maybe “thinking outside the box”. with the Northern Bookstall), British Campaign Medals, I thought I was being clever a Aintree FH Fair (thanks, Susan!), 1815–1914 or British Campaign little while back when I managed West Surrey FHS Open Day, the Medals, 1914–2005 may help? Or to get a good deal on a bulk pur- Guild’s Computer Seminar at maybe British Gallantry Awards chase on George Redmonds’ Hounslow, and the Wimborne FH or British Orders & Decorations book, Surnames & Genealogy - A Fair. would be more appropriate? Two New Approach. Trouble is, I for- So, that’s it for 2006, then. And other titles that I feel will give got to mention the 25% discount what about 2007? Well, here’s I was able to offer to Guild mem- how it begins... bers as a consequence. It’s time to • East of London FHS FH Fair, buy now, while stocks last! Barking, Essex, Saturday, January 20 • Bracknell FH Fair, Bracknell, Berks, Sunday, January 28 • Crawley FH Fair, Crawley, Sussex, Sunday, February 11 • Guild Publications Seminar, Bletchley, Bucks, Saturday, February 17 you some military background • Oxon & Bucks FH Fair, are: Discovering English County Kidlington, Oxon, Regiments and Military Barracks. Sunday, February 25 Somewhere else in this Journal • Dorset FHS Open Day, Poole, you will read my review of Challenge of marriage Dorset, Sunday, March 11 Genealogy Online for Dummies. I In case you missed my Will I see you there? I hope so. hope you will feel it’s fair and announcement on the Forum, I’m You might even snap up a balanced and not just a sneaky issuing another Marriage Chal- bargain! way of selling you more books. I lenge with this article. Not hate the idea I might be selling content with my modest takeover Huge thanks things that are useless; I’d give up of Stepney and Mile End and my Come on! You know I don’t do first. The book is not for every- subsequent incursion into St Giles this on my own...I’m just the one, but it does have some merit, in the East, I’ve now decided to front man. These are the people so if you feel it would be useful annex Whitechapel. They offered whose efforts you should really to you, it’s there on the Bookstall little resistance. If you’d like the appreciate: Trish Bliss, Sheila Rahr Price List. details of a marriage bearing Weston, Ian and Anne Shankland, And here’s a title that’s not your registered name that took Michael Bliss, Karen Herringham, new, but it’s arguably different place in the Whitechapel Regis- Rowan Tanner, Paul Millington, tration District between 1837 and Ken Grubb, Ron and Gwen 1911, then I may be able to help! Woodhouse, Barbara Harvey, To ensure I remain married, I’m Susan Atkins, Jan Cooper, Michael going to take it in three stages, Walker, Martin Gegg, Lyn Hor- so please send me the full GRO ridge and Kirsty Gray. Thank you, Index references for those marri- thank you, all of you! And thank ages between 1837 and 1860. I’ll you, too, to anyone I’ve missed! have to impose a deadline, but If you’d like to contact Howard you’ve got until January 21 to get about any of the items he holds the information to me. on the Bookstall or to volunteer to help, you can write to him at Where we’re going [email protected], and could be very helpful. Nuts & Full of good intentions I set off or 7 Amber Hill, Camberley, Sur- Bolts by Andrew Todd received a to the Hastings & Rother FHS Fair rey, GU15 1EB, UK.

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 23 It’s membership subscription time again and Renewals Secretary is awaiting your money! T THIS time of the year husband / brother / father died I want. And I take some comfort we are starting to plan in June, please remove him from knowing that, should I the 2007 Register, from your records,” it is usually shuffle off this mortal coil early, which will be issued too late. If the member hasn’t another researcher would not with the April mailing. already made arrangements to have to start from scratch. Basic If you haven’t already paid preserve their material a life- information is lodged with an your membership subscription, time’s work has often ended up organisation that will know which was due on November 1, in a landfill site. what to do with it. please send it quickly to the In the last Journal I wrote Guidance on depositing ONS Renewals Secretary, Rod Clay- about depositing copies of your material with the Guild can be burn, not to me. ONS material with the Guild to found in the Members’ Room at After the end of January we guard against such a situation. I www.one-name.org/members/ shall be removing all non-paid said that I was going to send an donating.html members from the database. interim backup of my data to I did have a couple of Please look at your entry in the Guild E-Librarian, Colin Pat- responses from members after the Guild database online if you trick. Did I? “Yes”, he answers my last article indicating that can and see that the details smugly! It took me less than an they would like to deposit a displayed for you are accurate. hour. back-up disc with the Guild. It will help us greatly if you can However, they were worried inform us early of any necessary Text file because they used proprietary changes. I wrote a simple ReadMe file software for storing their data, We are likely to produce the – a plain text file giving brief and this was either an outdated new paper Register with the details of what was on the disc, version or soon might be. information in the database at why I was depositing it and in 1 March, so any amendments what circumstances the Guild Format notified after that date will could release the material. Don’t worry about the for- have to wait for the next I then copied this file onto a mat of your data or the soft- supplement. disc with all my family tree files ware you use. If you hold your and the documents containing data, or some of it, electroni- Sad my Births, Marriages and cally and want to deposit a copy One sad result of the rene- Deaths GRO index entries. The with the Guild, do so. So long as wals process is that we learn of disc was then put into a protec- you describe the format of the members who have died during tive cover – one of those we all data in the ReadMe file, Colin the year, but whose relatives or get with freebie discs – into an Pattrick will consider how to executors have not informed us envelope and off to the Guild E- handle the information to of their death before. It is Librarian. ensure that it is preserved for always sad to lose members, but Of course the disc is already the future. it is doubly so when we suspect out-of-date! I have added addi- If you do have any particular that their research has not been tional data to some of the concerns about depositing a preserved. family trees, positively identi- disc with the Guild or the for- The Guild Secretary sends a fied more of the BMDs and mat of your data, please letter of condolence whenever found new sources of informa- contact Colin – pattrick@one- we learn of a member’s death. tion. Also, the disc doesn’t name.org – or myself and we She also gently offers Guild contain copies of all the certifi- will try to help. help if the family doesn’t know cates purchased over the years A Happy New Year to all our what to do with the member’s or miscellaneous correspon- members and please make one One-Name Study material. dence and notes. more resolution – this year I However, when we receive a However I can provide an will deposit a back-up of my letter in November saying: “My updated disc to Colin whenever ONS data with the Guild. ❍

24 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 Scottish family history societies meet in Inverness Family history embarks THE SCOTTISH Association of Family History Societies’ 18th on a brave new world Annual Conference will be hosted by the Highland Family THE ONWARD march of the commercialisation of genealogy and History Society at Culloden Aca- family history, and its promotion from an amateur hobby to being sold demy Community Complex, to a mass market audience, is reaching extraordinary new heights. Inverness, on Saturday, April 21. The Society of Genealogists’ The conference will be annual Family History Fair will be opened by Roddy Balfour, taking place next May as usual – Chairman of Inverness Area but with a major new development Education Committee and a and focus. Instead of being at the Chieftain of the Gaelic Society Royal Horticultural Hall, London, of Inverness. The theme for the where it has been held for the last conference is Emigration – 14 years, the fair will be held at From Poverty To Prosperity? National Hall, Olympia, and will be Speakers will be: Dr Marjory part of a much bigger national Harper, Senior Lecturer in history event to be called Who Do History at the School of Divin- You Think You Are? LIVE, riding on ity, History & Philosophy at the name and success of the BBC TV Aberdeen; Professor Jim Hun- series that pulled in millions of ter, Head of Department at the newcomers to family history. University of Highlands and The show will take in family Islands Centre for History; history, military and social history, David Stenhouse, Journalist travel and lifestyle, with work- and Senior Producer at BBC shops, entertainments, big-name Radio Scotland; Professor Ted speakers and some of the celebrities whose family history stories Cowan, Professor of History at featured in the series. Glasgow University. Full details and an appli- Three days cation form can be found at: The show is being held over three days instead of just one day and www.highlandfhs.org.uk/ will take place over the Bank Holiday weekend, May 5–7 2007. The HFHSConference.asp organisers, Brand Events, a specialist company of show and exhibition organisers, have linked up with Wall to Wall, the makers of the BBC TV GRAHAM TULEY series, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, the National Archives, and the SoG and its sponsor, findmypast.com, to put on this major new event that is hoped will take family history into a new dimension. The Regional Reps organisers are anticipating 15,000 people through the doors over the DUE to lack of space, the details three days and hope to reach out to the many more enthusiasts in the of Regional Representatives have growing history market. ❍ been omitted from this issue. However, they were published SoG holds Marjorie Moore Memorial Lecture over two pages in the THE LATE Marjorie Moore, FSG, one of the most celebrated names in October–December 2006 Journal family history, who was killed while on a safari trip in South Africa in and it was recommended then 2006, is to have a memorial lecture named after her. that members photocopy those This is being organised by the Society of Genealogists and will be held pages or retain that issue. at the Westminster Room, the Old Sessions House, Clerkenwell Green, Full details are in the Mem- London, on Friday, February 23. The lecture will be given by Sir Bernard bers’ Room on the Guild website Ingham, former press secretary to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, or can be obtained from the head of the Government Information Service from 1989–90, author of six Regional Representative Co- books and a newspaper columnist and broadcaster. His theme will be ordinator: Mrs Sandra Turner, 2 St Communication and Spin: Danger, Governments at Work. Annes Close, Winchester, Hamp- Marjorie Moore was a prominent member of the Guild and a former shire SO22 4LQ, tel 01962 840388, Registrar, as well as being closely associated with family history societies e-mail: rep-coordinator@one- in Wiltshire and a former chairman of the SoG Executive Committee. name.org

Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 25 genealogy and one-name studies so interesting. Since the early 19th century many members of the Olby family had become Primitive Methodists or members of the Plymouth Brethen. Appendix 1 provides a useful summary of the history of these two movements, including pictures of the founders of Primi- Story of the Olby family – a book tive Methodism (Hugh Bourne and William Clowes) and the for those considering writing Plymouth Brethen (Edward Cronin and John Nelson Darby). one themselves The other appendices provide a list of the Olby family christen- FROM FLINTS TO FIREPLACES, by ings, marriages and burials at St Chris Newall (Guild member Peter’s, Brandon, from 1801 to 4276). Softback, 69 pages, ISBN 0- 1846, and a table showing the 9552046-0-7, price £8.00. Pub- totals of Olby births, marriages lished by the author as Wild Oat and deaths by decade in England Books, 33 Elm Grove Road, Eal- and Wales. One of the more ing, London W5 3JH. E-mail: interesting diagrams shows the [email protected] dispersal of the Olby family from Brandon between 1850 and 1975. THIS book gives the story of the This book provides a good Olby Family through the 19th example of how to document the and 20th centuries and traces the history of a particular family over history of some of the descen- a number of generations. It is dants of Robert Olby and Frances interspersed with a number of Overed from humble beginnings relevant photographs, either of as gunflint makers in Brandon, individuals or locations and con- Suffolk, to their eventual success tains a useful index. as builder’s merchants in Rams- I found this book particularly gate, Penge, Bognor Regis and mary family tree which makes it interesting from a personal point Lewisham. easy to identify the members of of view because of its many refer- The book starts with an intro- the Olby family the chapter refers ences to Brandon and the Talbot duction of Brandon and the to. At the end of each chapter family and to Sarah Spurdens history of the rapid growth of the are references to the sources. marrying John Talbot. A Reverend gunflint industry, which domi- William Kemball was the Curate nated the town by 1790. The Branches of Brandon from 1729 to his book then divides into nine main Chapter 7 deals with other death in 1770 and five or six of chapters with each chapter cover- branches of the Olby family, his children were born in Bran- ing a specific generation of the which includes the family of John don. Two Kemball brothers Olby family, starting with Robert Olby, second son of Robert and married Talbot women in 1721 Olby 1769–1820 and Frances Frances Olby. The 1841 census and 1724 and a William Kemball Overed 1766–1844 and their shows this family living in Thet- married a Rhoda Spurgens in seven children. ford, including a 70-year-old 1807. A bit more research may A few years ago Chris Newall Frances Olby who could have find a link with the Olby family. began to suspect that most, if not been the wife of the above-men- My only disappointment was all, the Olby birth, marriage and tioned Robert. the lack of any real detail or com- death registrations in England However, page 8 of Chris ment on the hypothesis that and Wales might be of descen- Newall’s book states that most, if not all, of the members dants of Robert Olby and Frances “Frances Olby lived in Brandon of the Olby family in England Overed, who married at St until shortly before her death, may be descended from Robert Andrew and St Peter, Blofield, the 1841 census records her as a Olby and Frances Overed. It Norfolk on March 8 1790. He widow aged 70 years living in the would have been useful if the decided to embark on a one- same household in Thetford book attempted to identify the name study to test this hypothesis Road, Brandon, as her son-in- distribution and size of the Olby and registered with the Guild. law”. The similarity of these two surname worldwide or at least Each chapter provides a sum- 1841 census entries is what makes the distribution of the name in

26 Journal of One-Name Studies, January–March 2007 the UK censuses. page is a “cheat sheet” on light certainly passed my rigorous test, The 1881 census shows 31 card containing some useful but is it too insular to ask for a £ Olbys while the ONS Names data- websites and some genealogy sign rather than a $ sign as a base www.taliesin-arlein.net/ abbreviations. I’m delighted to symbol to warn about charges? names/search.php has 75 Olbys in report the Guild’s website is fea- Chapter 4, entitled What’s in a its 2002 database, ranking the tured before page 1. Name, gives early exposure to the surname joint 39,660th. I feel it I liked the written style; it’s Guild’s website and also mentions would have been a useful indi- chatty, with loads of homely the one-name sites for the names cation of the size of the Olby ONS advice which just manages to WILLINGALE and ROWBERRY. and to include a table showing steer clear of seeming patronis- Later, there is helpful advice on the relative number of Olbys in ing. And I can assure techno- using Internet resources other each of the UK censuses from phobes that there is no geeky than websites by seeking advice 1841 to 1901. jargon. In fact, it talks genealogy from other researchers. These comments should not, first, technology second; there’s At the end you’ll find the inev- however, distract from the enjoy- hardly a mention of a website in itable chapter on how to put all ment I had in reading this book. the first three chapters, for this on a web page. but I still It is a book that I can recommend instance. worry about even mentioning to anyone considering writing a In the early chapters, there are that there are things called HTML similar book themselves. helpful hints on getting yourself tags to total novices. organised, including down-to- Do I have any reservations? CLIFF KEMBALL earth advice on what to take to a Well, a couple. I’m worried about the subject matter getting out of GENEALOGY ONLINE FOR DUM- date, for a start. Although MIES (UK Edition) by Jenny addresses in cyberspace have now Thomas, Matthew L Helm, April stabilised considerably, websites Leigh Helm, and Nick Barratt. are still prone to move home ISBN 0 7645 7061 7. Price £15.99, without leaving a forwarding published by John Wiley & Sons address; others spring up after Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, publication. This book’s primary Chichester, West Sussex PO19 competitor in the UK, The 8SQ. Genealogist’s Internet by Peter Christian, comes with a compan- I’M already familiar with this ion website run by Peter himself, famous series of books from to keep you up to date with Wiley, which were originally changes to his book. introduced to address computer Other shortcomings are less technology subjects (who remem- record office. I liked the cautions obvious, but may be a reflection bers DOS for Dummies?). Since about rushing ahead too quickly, of the authors’ own experience. I then, the formula has expanded and comments like: “Not all couldn’t find a mention of enormously and now includes indexes were created equal”. And 1837online, for instance (and just titles like Cooking Basics for Dum- there’s a warning that not every- to confuse things, already mies and House Selling for thing is online, including the renamed to findmypast), and Dummies, etc. I must admit I’ve whole of Chapter 8: Starting here’s a straight quote about always had an ambivalent reac- Offline: Basic Genealogical Genes Reunited: “The site cur- tion to them. While I recognise Sources in the UK rently contains over 70 million that they’re unashamedly aimed I really liked the deceptively names. You need to register to at beginners and presume almost simple diagram in Chapter 2, use the site, but registration is nothing about the reader’s back- which illustrates that research free” – failing to mention the ground, I just find the titles work is really cyclic – to use their £9.95 it costs to be able to con- slightly uncomfortable – how terms, this means the stages of: tact other members. could I buy a book for my wife Planning, Collecting, Researching, On the whole, though, if that was intended “for Consolidating, Distilling. Funnily you’ve done the basic ground- dummies”? enough, this sounds distinctly like work in genealogy, you’re On the other hand, I’d never the terms used in the Guild familiar with computer basics actually read one, so I was plea- Knowledge Store in the Mem- and the Internet, and you’re now santly surprised when I opened ber’s Room on the Guild website. at the point where you want to this book by its plain, no-non- Originally, this is a US book explore the full scope of online sense organisation. By the time and this one is billed as the UK genealogy, I can heartily recom- I’d reached the end, I was Edition, with contributions from mend this book. captivated. Nick Barratt, in which case I was On opening the cover, the first keen to ensure its “Britishness”. It HOWARD BENBROOK

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Vol 9 Issue 5 January–March 2007