At 05:42 AM 20/10/01, Anthony Francis wrote:
Thank you Graham.
All the great varietiy of records available through LDS is overwhelming
- I just saw where the masses of probate records are listed on their CD.
I really must try the non-conformist registers
- finding the time to do so much is the challenge.
You mention transcribing 41 pages of notes!!
As of today it is 63. Not finished yet. They will all go into my 1841
census file for future reference, so if anyone wants a look-up for JONES or
ROBERTS around these parts, feel free to email me back.
-Only getting access once or twice a week is tricky.
That's about all I get too, but if it is quiet one can transcribe away
quite happily.
I find it hard to write in a darkened room and/or read the faint
records in
a bright room.
I know it of old. I could do with a magic laser eye beam in my
spectacles! You would believe, of course, that even a simple word like
Mary could be viewed as Margt, or Jane as June or even Jenne, according to
the census record takers writing. Here's an interesting case: I was
transcribing down the census taker's writings as he came to, I think, the
Grapes ( ?) Inn, where his writings were very legible previous. The
following notations on his census sheets suddenly became difficult to read,
and I had great difficulty in working out some of the names. This was after
he had left the pub! Perhaps he was in ill health, had a dizzy spell or was
prone to eccentric seizures as many seemed to be in those days? Then again,
he might have been of great nervous disposition or was perhaps suffering
from writers cramp or had arisen too early that morning and had not taken
enough sustenance to last him through the day - that is, until he arrived
at the inn.
Putting aside all of that, bring on the name experts. I have transcribed
down a family of Jones at Llangollen Bache, and one of the sons is named
Aleuis. Perhaps Alyusius? It could be a corruption of Lewis, of course, but
the first letter was certainly A not L. This is according to
interpretation, of course. Does such a Welsh first name exist? It will help
the records if we get it right, and perhaps there is another derivation of
the name that has not been written down properly. Other names in the family
were quite "normal", such as Sarah, John, Abraham and Ann. Trust us Welsh
to be difficult!
Cheers
Graham