I'd love to join an FHS but ....

[v.wells]

I used to teach at the Primary School in Hadlow, I live about 6 miles away, want me to go there for you and photograph a headstone? Ruth

That would be lovely but I don't know where they are located since Hadlow council/cemetery office is very good at not responding to my inquiry or courteous enough to direct me to who would help. I know where my grandmother is buried but there is no stone. The only way I got a reply to my first inquiry was to resend it to the main council fellow. The surname I am interested is Wells and the lady did say there were a few there at Hadlow Cemetery. I suppose I shall have to email again and inquire. Thanks Ruth

[James Corps]

I suppose people speak as they find re subject of FHS.

I am new to family research and have met some charming people. Thus encouraged I attended the Gateshead Fair and joined the Cleveland Society then and there. I had intended to join after Christmas when I would have more time for meetings and maybe making a contribution other than just membership fee. I was not expecting anything until I had put in an appearance, so imagine my delight when an envelope containg future programme plus past journals arrived. They were very interesting and has given me more of an insight to the workings of an FHS.

[benny1982]

Hi

As I said, the Sussex FHG is brilliant. It has many records for the county although I am still awaiting the transcription of the Slaugham ones.

But I have bought several CD roms of other villages where my Sussex ancestors lived. For anyone with Sussex ancestors who hasn't joined the Sussex FHG I would reccommend it.

Ben

[Ditch]

Hmm. What to say? This whole Board has been catching my eye for ages now. Having finally popped in here, I didn't know which Thread I might respond to. Indeed, reading through even just a couple of them has taken some time.

I'm a bit of a Serial Joiner of FHS's myself. And, with that, I almost typed " Have I never learned yet? " But, thinking about it, that would be an at least partially untrue thing to say. Or would give a partially wrong impression.

See; I reckon it's more ~ or as much ~ me that's at fault here. I suspect I'm going about things a bit wrong in the first place.

What I do; I join a FHS for a county where I have a history of dead rellies. In this case then I'll actually fess up and name names, just to give a better example. The Pond's of Dorset. With them in mind, I joined the Dorset FHS.

I seem to recall they have a way where by one can submit ones pedigree's. There are quite a few Pond Pedigrees held by them. Now it all starts to fall apart: Do they charge for a look at others Ped's? Dunno. Honestly can't remember. But, I'm sure some nominal charge is in order. They have to send this stuff out to us.

But, I never got round to testing that water. Too busy. And that's how come I never have got round to sending them my own Pond stuff. Just too busy. Even busy adding new stuff to my Ponds ~ which will surely make my stuff more valuable to others ..... When / if I ever get round to dotting and crossing and sending it in. Maybe when I'm a little less busy

And so, with my collating and presenting that Magnum Opus Pondii on a back burner, off I go and join that other society, covering elsewhere, where another load of my lot sprung from. And I get their Journals. And I sort of 'promise' myself I'll actually read one more thoroughly, one day. And they gather dust. Then they get filed. And I join another damn FHS .....

Frankly? The net result of all this joining has really been about Zero, for me. But, I feel very uneasy about having a pop at any of them. The irony is that I'm just too busy, working away myself here, to even sit down and try to absorb what sterling services these outfits may be able to offer me.

But, again; As a brand new member, I always feel I Daren't ask if anyone could check something out in the local records for me. They'd think I was a scrounger; Just joined up and looking for favours

Dunno. I just don't know!

[Pam Downes]

Frankly? The net result of all this joining has really been about Zero, for me. But, I feel very uneasy about having a pop at any of them. The irony is that I'm just too busy, working away myself here, to even sit down and try to absorb what sterling services these outfits may be able to offer me.

Hi Ditch,
Yes, it's really not the fault of the FHS if you don't make time to find out what research help they could give you.
I know Norfolk FHS offer 6 free look-ups per year. Lincolnshire FHS ask for a nominal amount which basically covers the cost of printing and postage, but you can ask for any number of look-ups.
You should also check out the publications of the FHS. Their indexes can save you many hours of research.

But, again; As a brand new member, I always feel I Daren't ask if anyone could check something out in the local records for me. They'd think I was a scrounger; Just joined up and looking for favours

Dunno. I just don't know!

It's highly unlikely the local FHS will check out records in the Record Office for you. Though (if they offer the facility) they will check their own indexes and records they hold. For a nominal fee you should then be able to ask the Records Office to send you a copy of, say, a baptism entry in a parish register, as you will know all the details of the entry.
Pam

[v.wells]

Ditch - ask your questions - we all scrounge for help sometimes and that is what we are here for. We all share here and freely too!

[Pam Downes]

But, again; As a brand new member, I always feel I Daren't ask if anyone could check something out in the local records for me. They'd think I was a scrounger; Just joined up and looking for favours

Dunno. I just don't know!

Sorry, Ditch, I read that as relating to asking a FHS to check items at the Record Office. and

But I think Vanessa got it right when she assumed that you meant asking BG members for look-ups. Don't be afraid to ask.
And as you live in Eire, you could perhaps repay any favours by doing look-ups in your local area.
Pam

[delphine]

Just to add to the debate. I'm in Devon with no Devon ancestors. I joined the local FHS on the recommendation of the late Don Steele who was teaching at an evening class on FH. What this gives me is access to their Resource Centre & library, which used to be invaluable for GRO fiche before they were on line and now has computer access. Volunteers at the Centre are also very helpful. I go to meetings, but do not expect to chat - I go to hear speakers.
For my own ancestors, I belong to East of London, where my interests are on their website, and, after publishing something in their Journal, I had helpful contacts; London Westminster & N Mid, whose journal deals exceptionally well with enquiries; Fife - which is very serious & dry! - but whence I have had helpful Members Interest contacts; Buckinghamshire which has a wonderful system of lending out deposited material to members by post and will produce transcripts of e.g. all instances of a given name in a set of PRs for a nominal charge. However I resigned from Suffolk (cutting off nose to spite face) as I objected to a comment in their Journal re civil partnerships. Different societies, different experiences - ask yourself if your expectations match what they say they provide? And bear in mind that the officers give their time (in UK at least). Some FHSs are quite small with many members living outside their area. Rant stops!

[Ms Tarfgi]

I belong to two FHS. I once went to a meeting at the local branch of the local society (easy to work out which!) and not one person spoke more than a sentence or two to me, despite my best efforts! I'm an averagely sociable sort of person, but there were obviously several cliques where people just carried on with last meeting's conversations and didn't want to bother with a new member! I did find the talk interesting but never went to another meeting.

However I still think it well worth continuing my membership, as staff at that society's resource centre are very helpful and the journals of both societies are very interesting and usually a good read even if they have not been of direct relevance to my searches. Researchers have answered queries that I've had published, having obviously gone to quite a lot of trouble on my behalf.

On balance well worth the annual subs.

[Flossy]

My experience has been similar to Ms Targi - I've joined and attended a few meetings of my local FHS where most of my ancestors lived and also been met with stony silence. The few committee people I met have been welcoming but were obviously busy and needed to be elsewhere; members who knew eachother were not interested in welcoming an outsider. It is a very large group so I thought I might make some headway but after a few visits I gave up & don't go to meetings anymore. I still value the quarterly magazine & have found lots of interest in there, so will continue with my membership. I guess part of the problem is that I was alone - somebody else with you might help to ease the integration, I don't know.