Potentially of interest to Guild members who have Oxfordshire roots - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oxfordshire Family History Society (OFHS) has started a new Oxfordshire surnames research project, examining surnames recorded in Oxfordshire parish registers from 1538 onwards, currently estimated at up to 20,000 key variants. The team is also using many other early recorded sources to build a comprehensive database of Oxfordshire surnames. The aim is to trace their whereabouts in different parishes over time, their origins, hotspots, DNA connections and many other facets of Oxfordshire surnames. The project will take about 2 years to complete. The project team is appealing for help from those who have a good recorded family history in Oxfordshire or who manage a one-name study. They are welcome to contact the team with a brief description and their contact details, so that when their surname is analysed they may be able to participate in submitting content for that name. All significant contributors will be acknowledged. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'd like to encourage Guild members with Oxfordshire links to be involved with this project - # At this stage the team want just a interest in being involved - so please send your contact details, name of interest, and place(s) in Oxfordshire where you have records of the name's occurrence, to the team leader Sue Honore via surname-project@ofhs.org.uk # Later, you will be asked for more detail, tied to place - so wills, and newspaper records, for instance - or, perhaps, sources such as gamekeeper licences - would all be of interest. # It is anticipated that the analysis will be published as a book, with a page or so on the occurrence and detail of each name, and lots of maps, and with some information also made available on the OFHS website, in the members' section. Do consider joining the project! While I'm writing - a reminder that Oxfordshire has a surname interest list, OXSIL, www.oxsil.org.uk, open to all to search and to register Oxfordshire interests. Furthermore, there's a section specifically for Guild members with strong Oxfordshire interests to register their one-name studies. Wendy OFHS publicity co-ordinator