FLHIG

Family and Local History
Indexing Group

Selected articles from the Newsletter

This article first appeared in SIGGNL 14  (February 1997)

Further thoughts on "Indexers and their indexes":
a series in the Family Tree Magazine, 1992-1995
by Tony Rydings

Introduction

In an earlier SIGG newsletter I produced an index to the above series, and suggested that some comments on the series as a whole might be of interest to our readers, most of whom are also indexers.  The series has recently been revived, but present remarks will be restricted to the first 26 articles.

Scope

An obvious feature is the wide range covered by these indexes, reflecting the interests of their compilers, as indeed one finds in any group of genealogists.  Apart from the usual indexes to births, marriages and deaths, and to census returns, there are indexes of particular categories of persons, while others are based on special sources.  It is not possible to review the technical quality of the indexes covered, as I have personally used only two or three of them, out of more than 50 mentioned, so my remarks are concerned mainly with the nature of the articles which describe them.

It is I think fair to say that one learns more about the writers, who in most cases are also the indexers, than about the indexes.  This is not a criticism, as we are all individuals facing similar problems, but it would have been useful to have learned more of the practical difficulties which had to be overcome.  One or two writers dealt with these, as I shall note later, but much of the contents was of little value to other indexers (though of course the articles were not written with us in mind).  Not only do the indexes vary widely in subject matter, but their treatment in the series also varies.  This is probably deliberate, since the magazine caters for such a variety of readers.  The only apparent editorial direction is that in nearly all the articles the charges for using or the cost of buying the indexes are given.

The series gets off to a good start with a general introduction by Derek Palgrave, well known to most English family historians for his work with the Federation, the Guild of One-Name Studies, and other societies, and is the only one of the writers personally known to me. His wide ranging article mentions more than twenty indexes of importance to genealogists, indicating their coverage, value and where they may be found.  He briefly describes the abstracts appearing in Family history news and digest, which has much improved in range and quality under his editorship, and covering many of the genealogical indexes which appear in the Federation's publications.  There are another 26 articles in the rest of the series to be reviewed here, mostly each dealing with one index, but the total coverage is 30 indexes.  While most are limited in scope to the British Isles and with a preponderance on England, six are partly or entirely concerned with other countries.  For convenience, I will deal first with those which relate to a particular area, usually a county.

County indexes

Writing on Some Derbyshire lists and indexes, Joan Measham modestly describes herself as an obsessive "lister" who has graduated into an indexer, with the acquisition of a computer and using the "Indexer" program from DCS Software of Stockport.  Her indexes of inquests and of bastardy cases are available at the County Record Office, and she will carry out searches for a small charge.  Dr Measham makes the point, with which I firmly agree, that one should not try to transcribe records for longer than two hours consecutively, for fear of loosing concentration.

Other county lists are those for Sussex burials, 1813-37, by Lord and Lady Teviot; Wiltshire burials, now limited to 1800-37, compiled by Mary Trace and Pat Wilson, a transatlantic co-operation; and wills beneficiaries, 1800-1858 for the same county, by the same team.  Essex also has an index of wills beneficiaries, by Thora Broughton, and both these last point out that they include entries for persons who are mentioned in wills other than beneficiaries (but excluding testators and witnesses).  The Teviots point out some of the problems of transcription and spelling, also mentioned by Keymer on the Greenwich census index and Wright on the London probate index (see below).  Both Wiltshire indexes were computer generated, rather necessary when the compilers were literally oceans apart, and exchanging contributions on floppies; in future probably e-mail will be the norm.

Geographically, the Argyll and Western Isles 1851 census index, compiled by a group in Australia as described by Peter Gibson, is more than a county, though the 160,000 entries (100,000 on computer, 60,000 manual) are less than in many counties.  The article includes an outline map and an illustration showing the format of the printout.  There is also a case study of a search for John Smith(!)

The Wiltshire team are working on a series of booklets, providing a census surname index.  Interestingly, this is for 1871.  Yet another census index in that for Greenwich, 1851, and described by E.W.L. Keymer.  Of the population of about 35,000, some 3,000 were located at the Royal Hospital.  The article deals in some depth with the question of transcription and peculiarities of surnames.  Incidentally, my own index (SIGGNL, no 13, p20) is at fault, as I had not realized that this was a census index..

London

The London probate index, 1750-1858 contains entries for testators and intestates recorded in nine London courts, and now kept in four archives.  It includes many soldiers and sailors, and persons dying in places all over the world.  The article by David Wright explains all this very clearly, and gives details on search facilities.  Another index which might be consulted for persons with London connections is that on Thames watermen and lightermen, compiled by Rob Cottrell, who has long family connections with the river and its traffic.  His article gives much fascinating information on the Company of Watermen & Lightermen, and its records in the Guildhall.  The index is based on the records of apprentices, 1692-1908, and was compiled using the Indexer computer program from DCS Software.  It is available on microfiche. 

One other index included in the series is concerned with London.  This is the Metropolitan Police consolidated index, compiled by Chris Forester, former curator of the force's Mounted Branch Museum.  It grew out of a card index which he used in that post to answer queries, and continued on computer.  The article gives a history of the project and describes the information available from the index.  It has been used for statistical analysis, of which examples are given, as well as a sample of the form of entry.

Local records

John Boys of Margate started collecting monumental inscriptions from churchyards, parish and nonconformist, of the Isle of Thanet in Kent from 1809.  There is a history of his efforts extending up to 1844 by John Titford, the present owner of the collection of 4,000 entries.  Most are from the 18th and early 19th centuries.  Sample entries are given, and the burial grounds listed.

There are two indexes to registers of births, marriages and deaths in the series.  The first, for St Peter, Monkswearmouth (Dur) replaces the originals which were burnt in a fire at the house of the minister in 1790.  The information has been collected by Ken Coleman, writer of the article, from a wide variety of sources which he lists, and the first part of the resultant index will cover births/baptisms up to 1799.  This is apparently a manual effort, and not surprisingly has already taken several years.  Specimen entries are shown, but there is nothing to indicate whether queries are accepted.  The second is also a one-man project, by G.A. Foster for Darwen and Blackburn (Lancs), not only covering Blackburn parish, the chapel of ease at Darwen (now St James' church), and the chapel (later St Stephen's church) at Tockholes, but also ten nonconformist chapels in the area.  The period covered is 1722-1857, and brief histories of each establishment are given.  By 1994 the index contained 11,000 baptisms, 5,000 marriages and 6,000 burials.  Samples of entries are given.

One final index completes those which relate to particular areas or places.  This, compiled by Mrs Sarah Minney, is for the market town of Evesham (Wor), and from early 19th century to date.  Anyone who has lived or worked in Evesham qualified for inclusion, and a separate entry was made for each piece of information, so there may be several 5" x 3" cards for a person.  In compiling this Mrs Minney obviously has had fun (she lives in Middlesex, but her grandfather was born in Evesham), and this is perhaps the only index in the series for which searches are made without charge.

International

Going from this to worldwide indexes is from one extreme to another, but the next group in my review is international in scope.  The first of these, compiled by Doreen Pearce, is of British-born people dying abroad.  As several of my ancestors including my father came into this category, it was of particular personal interest, and the article is certainly intriguing, but it tells one very little about the index and how it has been compiled.  Very different is the account of the Currer-Briggs genealogical index, by a professional genealogist of many years' standing.  Noel Currer-Briggs specializes in research into American colonial families, and uses all sorts of official and other documents.  The index runs to several hundred thousand names, from 1550 to about 1700.  Like the previous account, there are several fascinating examples of the kind of data included.

Overlapping to some extent with the Currer-Briggs index, the Colonists' index compiled by Antonia Williamson relates mainly to the West Indies, and to the period from 1607, mostly 17th century.  There are about 8,500 entries on cards, plus lists of about 10,000 Barbadian testators, 1639-1800.  Sample entries are given.  What began as the UK marriage witnesses index first became available through seven genealogists in various English speaking countries, and then on a wider basis through bulletin boards and e-mail.  Ted Wildy (now in hospital, according to JOONS, Oct. 1996) started compiling this in 1988 on computer, and it has reached over 46,000 entries.  As a result of its success there are now similar indexes for Australia (10,000 entries) and New Zealand (14,000 entries).

An index compiled in Australia includes material from other countries.  This is the index of "extra certificates" (birth, death and marriage) started by Dawn Cowley about 1988, and now containing over 25,000 entries.  This resembles the unrelated certificate index in the UK, but is provided from enquiries to the Registrar, Victoria (Aust), who supplies a copy of a whole page from the register, with three or five certificates, The index is issued twice a year.  Dawn Cowley is happy to add certificates from all over the world to the collection and index.

Yet another index has sources in both the UK and Australia.  This has been compiled by Jill Chambers, and deals with the Luddite machine breakers who were transported for their crime.  Starting with Bibury (Gls) she found that convicts from at least eleven other counties were involved, nearly 2,000 cases were heard, and nearly 500 transported for this crime. 

Specialist indexes

Of the remaining eight indexes in the series of articles, five are derived from a particular source or type of source.  They are:

1) Royal Naval officers' widows' pensions, 1846-65, compiled by Meryl Catty and published on microfiche;

2) Divorces recorded in The Times, London, 1788-1910, compiled by Annie Weare, also published on microfiche;

3) Next of kin: persons sought by advertisement in The Times, 1785-1914, not yet published, but searches undertaken by Annie Weare;

4) Memorial cards, a collection of over 3,000 cards or photo- copies compiled by Philip Jones, who gives a history of the genre and examples of the information available.

5) Family Bible inscriptions: index of surnames compiled by Rena King, who will search free for up to two names.

Lastly, we have three widely differing indexes; first, that to other ranks of the First Foot Guards (from 1815 the Grenadier Guards), compiled by Barbara Chambers.  This concentrates on the years 1803-23, and samples of the kind of information available is given.  Then, an index to the Royal Irish Constabulary, 1816-1921 has been compiled by Janet Reakes and published on microfiche.  There are over 80,000 entries.  Really the last index is that by Mrs Teresa Williams, and recording multiple births, mainly but not exclusively in the U.K.  The 1,500 entries are mostly from the 19th century.

Conclusions

Compiling and editing this article and its preceding index has taught me several things.  First, the description or review of an index should contain certain essential details, to facilitate comparisons.  Many of the articles reviewed lacked some of the essentials, probably because as already stated the editor deliberately refrained from directions of this kind.  As a result the collection is of wider interest, though not so useful for fellow indexers wishing to study it.  I have compiled a list of features which I feel should generally be included in the description of an index, and have tabulated these features for this collection.  This does not necessarily indicate the relative value of either the index or the article, but may help SIGG readers who wish to compare certain aspects.  As a result I have omitted some of the points which I originally noted in reviewing the articles, and transferred them to the table below.

This table shows the important details which should be given in either the description or a review of an index.  The first column briefly specifies the detail or details; most lines are expanded with an explanatory note at the end of the table.  the other column gives the numbers of the articles in the series in the Family tree magazine as in SIGGNL no.13, p.18.  The indexes mentioned in Derek Palgrave's article are not included, as they are not dealt with in the same way.  If there are more than one indexes to an article, they are identified by letters, as 10a, 10b, etc.

  A. Area 

2a, 2b, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10a, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22a, 22b, 22c, 23, 24, 25, 26

  B. Period

2a, 2b, 3, 4, 6, 7a, 7b, 8, 9, 10a, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22a, 22b, 22c, 23, 24, 26 

  C. No. of
      entries

2a, 2b, 5, 6, 8, 10b, 13, 14, 18, 21, 22a, 23, 24, 25

  D. Fields 

6, 7b, 8, 9, 13, 14, 16, 19, 22b, 23, 24, 25, 26

  E. Sources 

3, 4, 6, 7a, 7b, 8, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22a, 22b, 23, 24, 26

  F. Tech.
     description

2, 8, 16, 19, 22a, 23

  G. Output

2a, 2b, 3, 6, 7a, 7b, 8, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 22b, 22c, 23, 24, 25

  H. Cost or
  charges

2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7a, 7b, 8, 9, 10a, 10b, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22a, 22b, 22c, 24, 25, 26

Samples

3, 6, 8, 12, 14, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24 (in reviews only)

Explanatory notes:

A.  Geographical area covered by the index (the following indexes include entries other than the U.K.: 3, 5, 13, 15, 20, 21, 25)

B.  Approximate period covered

C.  No. of entries at the time of the article (most have grown since)

D.  Information given for each entry

E.  Sources from which information derived

F.  Manual or computer; program used

G.  Printed, microfilm, microfiche, CD-Rom

As a postscript, I would say that from the viewpoint of SIGG members, it is a pity that the categories of details given for the series of indexes here considered are least for D and F above.  It would be a useful addition if anyone who has used any of these indexes could provide this information, which I am sure our editor would be glad to publish.

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