As the Records Show
A Genealogical Day Out
by Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot

Some of my guides to London and vicinity suggest activities to get away from the hubbub for a day; they are given the name “days out.” This is what the Samford tour participants were doing earlier this summer. We were based in London at Daniel House, the Samford study center, and many participants chose to take at least one genealogical day out.

Perhaps the best was our day in Bury St. Edmunds, an ancient town in west Suffolk. It is a little more difficult to reach because travelers must change trains in either Ipswich or Cambridge, but Bury St. Edmunds is well worth the extra effort.

Planning Ahead
We were researchers and tourists all in one, keenly interested in getting several hours of work in the Suffolk Record Office and enjoying some time exploring the town. We had booked ahead with the record office. (It is usually essential to reserve a place at any record office in advance, particularly if microform readers or computers must be used.) In addition, we had checked information on records available. Suffolk does not have a catalog of collections at its website (www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/sro/), but using the Access to Archives network catalog (www.a2a.org.uk), it does list what can be searched.

Our Day Out
Travel consumed much of the morning, including a twenty-minute wait at Ipswich train station, so it was approaching 11:00 A.M. by the time we signed in at the record office. By the time four hours had passed we were all hungry and ready to break away from our research. We also had enough hands-on experience in research facilities to know whether or not a repeat visit would be necessary.

We enjoyed a late lunch in the Refectory Tea Room of the cathedral. This is a good tip for others going to the UK on a research trip; tasty and reasonably priced teas and lunches are widely available in churches and cathedrals. Then we split up, some to wander about the ruins of the abbey.

I went off to the tourist information center in search of a street plan so I could find addresses that had turned up in my research. These were all close together and close to the abbey gardens; Bury St. Edmunds was not very large when my ancestors and collateral relations lived there nearly 200 years ago.

We met up about two hours later to return to the train station for our journey back to London. This time we went via Cambridge, so we completed an odd shaped circle, and saw more of the English countryside from the train window.

About Bury St. Edmunds
The town grew up around the abbey, founded in 1020 A.D.; the town plan is unusual in that it is a simple grid, rather than an unorganized warren of narrow streets. It was a place of pilgrimage because the body of the martyred King Edmund was brought here to a wooden church in 903 A.D. , and many miracles spread the fame of the town after the abbey was established. Pilgrims ceased to come after Henry VIII dissolved the abbey in 1539. It was sold and the stone was gradually taken away to be used elsewhere.

Bury St. Edmunds has many old buildings that have survived, including the Norman gateway to the abbey gardens, where visitors can wander amongst ruined walls and beautiful flowerbeds. My ancestors lived in Buttermarket, where one was in business as a linen draper, and in Guildhall Street. The Guildhall, dating from the 1200s and the 1400s, is here along with houses built between 1400 and 1800. I was able to find the house I had found mentioned in electoral rolls in the record office earlier in the day.

To find out more about the history of Bury St. Edmunds begin with the history section of the borough council website (www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/sebc/visit/history.cfm).

If You Go
There are two simple guidelines for a successful research visit, plan ahead and take time to be a tourist. The planning relates to local transportation, using the archives, and ensuring you make the most of what is most likely a limited amount of time. Always consult the record office website in advance, paying attention not only to information about collections, but also to details about hours, special closings for stock-taking or holidays, requirements for visitors (e.g., obtaining a reader's ticket, pencils only, rules about use of cameras, etc.).

Taking time to be a tourist is important because it puts your research in context, regardless of whether or not your ancestors lived in the town where the archives are located. There may be a county museum, buildings of the time period of your ancestors, and one or more bookshops. We found things for sale at the record office and I came across a well-stocked bookshop in my walk about town (a mix of new and used titles that I found impossible to resist).

Days out are a great way to escape the noise and dirt of a big city, carry out some useful genealogical research, and take time to relax and enjoy being a tourist. Be sure to include a few of these tourist days in your research holiday.

Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot is an author, teacher, and lecturer specializing in English, Scottish, and Irish family history. She is the author of Your English Ancestry (2d ed., 1998) and Researching Scottish Ancestry (2003), and she is a contributor to several publications. Since 1996, she has been a study tour leader, course coordinator, and instructor for the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University. She teaches online at MyFamily.com. Recently she served a two-year term as president of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Upcoming Events

• October 9-14
  Sherry presents a weeklong seminar on problem solving and research strategies for British Isles family history in Salt Lake City, one of the courses of the British Institute; details are available from the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History.
  (www.isbgfh.org/institute.htm)
• Also in October Sherry will be presenting one-day programs for the Arkansas Genealogy Society (ASKAGS@agsgenealogy.org) and the St. Louis Genealogical Society (October 29, www.stlgs.org).

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Ancestry Quick Tip
Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree: Labeling Class Photos

It's time for this week's Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree! Thanks to everyone who has sent in a Quick Tip. Please keep them coming so that we can keep this tradition going. You can send your tips to ADNeditor@ancestry.com.

Quick Tips may be reprinted, with credit to the submitter, in other Ancestry publications, so if you do not want your tip included in a publication other than the Ancestry Daily News and Ancestry Weekly Digest, please state so clearly in your message.

Have a great day!
Juliana

ADN Editor's Note: We received this week's Jamboree in response to Leslie Lawson's tip on labeling class photographs. Thanks to everyone who sent in ideas!

Bring It to the Class Reunion
In reading "Label Class Photos", Leslie suggestion works if you or your kids are currently in school. However, for those of us in our sixties or thereabouts, I suggest taking the class photos to your high school class reunion. There are usually one or two people with remarkable memories, who can identify the class members you can't--even all the way back to kindergarten. It worked for me.

Jean Kent

Use Yearbooks from Later Years
My genealogy instincts must have started forming early. When I finally got into genealogy years later in life, I found, to my surprise, that most of my class photos were labeled in my funny little handwriting. But for those who didn't start so early, look at your high school yearbook. Sometimes, by just looking at the names in the yearbook can help put a name with that face in the 5th grade photo that you just can't remember. I used my high school yearbook to identify my eighth-grade graduation photo.

Rebecca Coletti

Share Labels with Classmates
I liked the tip from the reader about labeling class photos. I took it one step further. From first grade on, whenever my daughter brought home her class photo, I would enter the list on my computer and print it out on a large label which I put on the back of the picture. Then I would print off labels for each of the kids in the class and send them into the teacher to distribute. I had many parents come up to me over the years and thank me for taking the time to do that.

Karen G Slocum
Youngsville, PA

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Clipping of the Day
Burnt Cork
From the Adams Centinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), 26 July 1820, page 4

The season has returned when bilious complaints and disorders are arising from debility, (which always affect the stomach) periodically make their ravages on human life. Let parents especially remember the simple remedy first published in your paper a year ago, and make a timely application of carbon of Cork; there is nothing more harmless; it may be given to an infant, only observing that it be thoroughly burnt--pour a teaspoon full of brandy on a cork thus prepared, and mash it well with loaf sugar and a little nutmeg, or peppermint essence, and water. The publication of this recipe has already saved many lives in cases of cholera morbus and bilious cholic, and for the 'summer complaint' in children, it is a specific if taken in time; the quantity may be increased at pleasure without the least danger. Every family should be provided with a supply, ready for the moment, for it often happens that a person is suddenly and violently attacked, perhaps in the night, when it is extremely inconvenient, if not impossible to prepare it.

MEDICUS

Subscribers with access to the Historical Newspapers Collection can view this clipping.

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Fast Fact
Tip for Scottish Researchers

When using the on-line IGI at the LDS FamilySearch.org site, learn how to use the very powerful parents search facility. For Scotland and several other countries at least, entering just the names of the parents will often give you a list of all the children. For the Scottish records there is an overlap with the civil registration records up to 1875.

Scottish Research Class Begins, 28 July 2005

At least 25 million Americans claim Scottish ancestry. More recent research suggests that the figure could be as high as 40 million! If you have Scottish roots, this class will help you with your research using both traditional and online sources. The course is suitable for everyone from beginners to those who have already started their research. Sign up to this course to find out what records are available, how best to access them, how to obtain the best results, and much more.

Product Spotlight
Your English Ancestry and English Parish Records

		Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans, Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) Normally this book retails for $19.95, but today you can buy it in The Shops@Ancestry.com for $15.95.
		English Parish Records: Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Norwich, Suffolk Normally this CD-ROM retails for $39.95, but today you can buy it in The Shops@Ancestry.com for $29.95.

Thought for Today
E. L. Doctorow

Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.