Hello I seem to recall that there was an 1851 census Disk available for Wiltshire. Is this true? If so, could svks who has the disk look for the following: John Barrett OR John Heath and wife Elizabeth Barrett OR Elizabeth Heath. In the 1810s they had my ggg grandfather John Barrett/Heath in Wroughton. On the baptism record, the father is listed as a Soldier. I imagine he would have been born in the 1790s. It is difficult to tell what name the family was using at that time - John junior used HEATH at the time of the 1851 census, but by 1871 the entire family was using BARRETT. HEATH seems more likely for his parents, but I am not sure. Thank you! Best Wishes Taryn Jones Canada __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com
Hi Maureen > I seem to recall that there was an 1851 census Disk available for Wiltshire. Is this true? If so, could svks who has the disk look for the following: In the last (December 2002) edition of the "Oxfordshire Family Historian", my *independent* review of this CD was published. So as to assist you and other listers, I'm reproducing it below. I've had a very quick look for the family that you're interested in. I can't readily spot them, but I'll check again when I've more time... Paul Gaskell Publicity Officer and Minutes Secretary Oxfordshire Family History Society E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.ofhs.org.uk ============== CD REVIEW WILTSHIRE 1851 CENSUS This CD is available by post from Mrs Pat Wilson, 11 Ardmore Close, GLOUCESTER GL4 0BJ. Payment in Sterling £22.50 plus postage and packing of 72 pence within the UK, £1.20 rest of Eurpoe, £1.66 in USA or Canada, or £1.72 rest of the world. Also available via Genfair http://www.genfair.com for those wishing to pay by credit card. Minimum requirements: Windows 95, 98, ME, XP or NT 4.0 : a screen resolution of 800x600 pixels : IBM PC or equivalent with at least a 486 processor, 16 MB of RAM and 5Mb of free hard disk space. Also available on the disk is the data in Adobe Acrobat format (which can be used on Apple Mac's) and Microsoft Access database format. Most family historians will have used the 1851 census at some point in their research. Typically, this will have been at a local research centre or record office, when a microfilm reproduction of the original enumerators book will have been on offer. Alternatively, it might have been at home, using a transcription obtained from a family history society on microfiche. So when faced with the opportunity to purchase the transcription on CD at a cost in excess of £20, the researcher is likely to question whether this expenditure will give them added value. As I do not have Wiltshire ancestry, I picked up this CD with an open mind. It loaded onto my PC without problem, just three clicks of the mouse and it was up and running. The data is included on the CD in three formats, its own search programme which is the default, portable document format which is read using the free Adobe Acrobat reader, and as a Microsoft Access database. It is only possible to use the information in the latter format if the researcher already has Access on their machine, but the Acrobat reader is included on the census CD. The default search programme is extremely intuitive and easy to use. The initial screen gives the researcher five options, which include both to view the census as enumerated and to view the census in surname order. Both of these options produce reports in WordPad format, which can be printed, saved, manipulated or copied and pasted with ease. Of course, this is subject to the usual copyright restrictions. Another option on the initial screen is the Find Ancestor button. This takes the researcher to a search screen, from which the data on the CD can be interrogated. Possible search fields include forename, surname, year of birth, county of birth, place of birth, census address and occupation. Different combinations of these search criteria can be used, whilst the programmes power can be fully exploited by the use of wildcards and soundex searches. This is undoubtedly the area in which this CD stands out from the crowd. Searches are easy to set up, and the results appear in seconds. As an example, I searched on Oxford as the place of birth. Within 45 seconds, the programme had returned the 110 individuals included within the 1851 census of Wiltshire who had given Oxford as their place of birth. This output was in an indexed format, but with just one click to move to the as enumerated view. These results are produced within the programme itself, but just once click facilitates their export into WordPad for saving and further manipulation. Having explored this CD for a good number of hours, I must report that I am unable to find any shortcomings whatsoever in it. It is a truly excellent product, and a marvellous resource for those researching their Wiltshire ancestry. Furthermore, others thinking of producing census transcriptions on CD would do well to study this product carefully. In my view, it has set new standards and is the benchmark against which they will be judged. Paul Gaskell Publicity Officer Oxfordshire Family History Society