Tuesday, January 3, 2017

New for 2017: family history course at Sheffield City Archives

In January/February 2017, Sheffield City Archives and Local Studies Library are running their popular six-week family history course led by local family history expert Suzanne Bingham.


The course is aimed at beginners and will explain the process of researching your family tree and how to find and use essential records such as birth, marriage and death indexes, certificates, and census records.  You will learn how to use the Find My Past website effectively, and how to access records in archives and libraries that haven’t yet been made available online.  Each week, you will get to look at original documents from the Archives.

Course start date: Thursday 19th January 2017
Time: 2pm - 4pm
Venue: Sheffield City Archives, 52 Shoreham Street, S1 4SP
Cost: £60 (for 6 weeks)

To book a place contact Sheffield Archives (0114 203 9395) or Sheffield Local Studies Library (0114 273 4753) or email: archives@sheffield.gov.uk

Date

Activity

Thu 19th Jan
(2-4pm)
Week 1
Getting started - organising your family trees.
Useful websites for family history.
Civil Registration – births, marriages and deaths.
Thu 26th Jan
(2-4pm)
Week 2
The census and what it can tell us about our ancestors.
Useful resources for accessing the census.
Thu 2nd Feb
(2-4pm)
Week 3
Detailed look at Parish records, why they were kept and how to access them.
Religious denominations, the differences in the records.
Thu 9th Feb
(2-4pm)
Week 4
Records relating to the deceased ancestor:
Churchyard or cemetery?
Monumental Inscriptions.
Causes of Victorian deaths
Did they leave a will?
Thu 16th Feb
(2-4pm)
Week 5
Social welfare and health records.
Records relating to the Poor Law – workhouses, poor relief, bastardy orders, settlement certificates, Sheffield Scattered Homes.
Records relating to health – hospitals and asylums.
Thu 23rd Feb
(2-4pm)
Week 6
Understanding where your ancestor lived.  
What was the area like?
How to use the following resources to identify the location of your ancestor’s home:
  • Trade directories
  • Electoral registers
  • Local area photographs
  • Maps
This session will take place at Sheffield Local Studies Library (Central Library).