Section Secretary St Peter Port Guernsey GY1 3TG |
 |
Lukis House, where the section's reseach room is located |
Sections
Family History
The Family History Section has been established since April 1987 and
has a current membership of about 300 worldwide. We have a small research
room
situated at
the Lukis Observatory, in the rear car park of Lukis House, The Grange, St
Peter Port, Guernsey, where we are gathering a collection of archive material.
The research room is manned by volunteer members, and is open to all members
of La Société Guernesiaise by appointment. Limited car parking
is by permit, available from the Duty Member at the Observatory.
MEMBERSHIP
We are a section of La Société Guernesiaise. Membership
is open to all and costs £6.50 in addition to the membership fee to La
Société Guernesiaise.
Members receive
two Family History Journals, issued in June and December, the Transactions
of La Société Guernesiaise and Communiqué, the
newsletter of La Société Guernesiaise.
Payment can be made online below or we are happy to receive cheques, banker's
orders or International Money Orders in sterling, made payable to the
Family History Section.
The section produces occasional publications in addition to the regular twice-yearly journals. This book includes a selection of old family photographs supplied by Family History Section members and is a fascinating insight into how life in Guernsey used to be.
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
RESEARCH
A small group of members undertake research on behalf of correspondents. No set charges are made, but we do ask for donations to assist with costs. Over the years, we have been extremely successful in putting correspondents and members in touch with others researching the same families.
To make a donation to cover research costs using your credit/debit card or via Paypal, please enter the amount in the box below
DETAILS OF OUR HOLDINGS
Parish Church Registers
Guernsey has ten parishes. The Section has been involved in indexing some of the Parish Church registers of births, marriages and deaths, although several indexes are incomplete.
Guernsey Censuses
Members have compiled indexes to the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses for all parishes. The Census of 1901 is in the process of being indexed.
Memorial Inscriptions
The transcription of Memorial Inscriptions within various cemeteries and churchyards, by a very small group of members over the past few years, has produced an immense amount of research material. Extracts can be made available, for a small charge, on application.
Churchyards: the churchyards where MIs have already been fully transcribed are St Pierre du Bois, Castel, St Matthew's in the Castel parish, and St John's in the parish of St Peter Port.
Cemeteries: The St Peter Port Parish Cemeteries whose MIs have been transcribed are Candie, Plymouth Brethren and the Foulon.
Obituaries
We hold a collection of Guernsey Magazine Obituaries from 1872 to 1889, which can be very informative, especially if the death took place overseas (Card Index).
Members have extracted Guernsey Evening Press Newspaper notices of Birth, Marriage and Death entries from 1994 (Card Index).
Town Hospital (Poor House / Poor Law)
Indexes are available of the St Peter Port, former Town Hospital records 1743 to 1856, and to the St Peter Port Poor Law records 1811 to 1904. For more information go to St Peter Port Town Hospital Journals.
Family Files and Trees
We have a steadily growing collection of Family Files and Trees compiled and very kindly donated by members and correspondents. We also can now accept GEDCOM files and already have had some research donated in this format which is available on the computer.
Exchange Journals
We exchange journals with several other Family History Societies in Jersey, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the U.S.A. and we also have a collection of interesting Family History Books.
MEETINGS
Evening indoor meetings are held at 7.45, on either the 3rd or 4th Wednesday of the month at the Headquarters of La Société Guernesiaise, Candie Road, St Peter Port. We have very knowledgeable speakers with a variety of interesting topics, and often a display of archive material.
Outdoor meetings are usually held in June and July, which may take the form of a walk and talk in areas of interest, or possibly a visit to a cemetery or churchyard, sometimes with a hands on approach to transcribing, which can be very fulfilling.
JOURNALS
We issue two Family History Section journals, during June and December, as well as two Newsletters each year. We are always pleased to receive interesting articles for possible publication.
The Family History Section is a member of the Federation of Family History Societies.
The section presently has no e-mail facility.
LINKS
The following web-sites are suggested as good starting points for research
on Guernsey born ancestors (many with links to Jersey sites as there was of
course some movement of population between the islands as there is today).
The Priaulx Library is a very useful resource for those interested in family history and other local issues
http://www.priaulxlibrary.co.uk
Alex Glendenning's award winning web-site
http://user.itl.net/~glen/guernsey.html
GENUKI is the entry point for all research for the United Kingdom & Ireland.
The Channel Island pages are at
http://www.genuki.org.uk/indexes/CHIcontents.html
Some good Guernsey, Alderney & Sark links at
http://genealogy.guernsey.net/
Stephen Foote's website with links to crews of Guernsey ships and Guernsey Butchers
Guernsey Butchers
Maritime History and Guernsey crew lists
Stephen Foote's Guernsey family history
For further research on ships & crews try:
Public Record Office, Kew, England - on-line catalogue
http://catalogue.pro.gov.uk/
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/
Maritime History Archives, Memorial University of Newfoundland
http://www.mun.ca/mha/
Candie Gardens, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1UG, Channel Islands.
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