Tag Archives: mining

Did you know that ……….was now online?

Every day more record sets are added to online family history websites – mainly the pay per view sites.  Gone are the days of having to go to a specific town to visit a church who still held their own records or an archives – well that is unless you want to!

I have just clicked on Find My Past to see what is new there and here are a few of their newbies – some may be of interest and help you with your research.

South Yorkshire Asylum Admission Records 1872 – 1910, later known as Middlewood Hospital and contains over 17,000 records.  The information revealed not only gives names and dates of admission but some records give details of the persons insanity and if they recovered or not.

 Sheffield Cathedral Church of St Peter and Paul burial index 1767 – 1812 – these records contain over 44,000 transcripts from the registers with the information including:- deceased’s name, date of burial, occupation and next of kin.  The next of kin is wonderful when trying to work out if a person is yours or not.

Still in South Yorkshire, the Sheffield Quarter Sessions 1880 – 1912. The transcript gives details of the person being tried and their offences and of course, the sentence.

North West Kent, Westerham Burials 1686-1981 and Greenwich Burials 1748-1937  a collection of over 40,000 transcriptions to get your teeth into.

Venturing further north Lanarkshire, the People of New Lanark 1785 – 1953, contains a collection of transcriptions from church records, Sheriff Court and High Court records and the Lanark prison register

Leaving the UK, New South Wales Deaths 1788 – 1888. The index from three districts gives details of full name, birth and death year, plus parents first name.  New South Wales Marriages and New South Wales Births 788 – 1914, both giving useful information if you have family living in the area.

So now to what’s new on Ancestry –  Firstly, Perth, Scotland, Burgh Burial Index 1794 – 1855. Scotland Prison Records and the 1851 census  index for Scotland. 

Uk, Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths 1750 – 1950 and includes over 12,000 from the Scottish coal fields.

So, looks like there may be something of interest for a lot of people, especially as the 2 sites mentioned may have some offers going around this time of year.

Pope and Pearsons, Altofts

Did your family come from Altofts in the West Riding of Yorkshire?

Well, if they did, there is a good chance that they could have attended Pope & Pearsons, West Riding Colliery School.

A few years ago, I was offered the transcriptions done by Eve Kubiak for my website, Wakefield Family History Sharing – well, would you have said NO !  Didn’t think you would.

Eve spent many hours in the local archives taking the names down in longhand and then adding them to a computer programme – when you visit the pages you will see what a task that was for one person.  The entries start in 1875 and continue up to 1914.  The earlier entries are two or three years to a section when in 1893 they are in  individual years.

The information includes for each entry :- ID no. ; Date of admission or re-admission ; Surname followed by Christian name ; Date of birth ; Fathers of Mothers Name ; Address, From where and finally but not always having an entry is the Date of Leaving.  In later years there is a Remarks section with some of the entries being very informative.

For example in the 1877 – 79 section we have Mary Em Shepherd entering on 10 Dec 1877.  She was born on 29 Jan 1870, the daughter of Joseph of 1 Pit Row and was from the infant school.

Or, we have Beatrice Goldsburg born on 25 Jul 1889 who entered school from the Hunslet Board School.  She was the daughter of William of Railway Houses and she enter school on 2 May 1898.  The remarks say that she left on 10 Oct 1902 as she was Wanted at Home ! Her younger brother and sister left school in 1909 and 1906.

The same year, 1898, we have George Buxton, born 18 June 1889. the son of William of 9 Co-operative Terrace who came from the infants school, left on 1 Nov 1900 to go to The Grammar School.

The year of 1902 sees Sarah Thompson born 31 Oct 1891, the daughter of Sarah of 69 Pope Street.  She was admitted to school on 1 July 1902 – she was re-admitted as she had been in Knottingly but on 23 Dec 1904 she was taken out of school due to illness on Doctor’s Orders.

In 1904 the children of William Shaw of the Canal Boat Eardsly of Leeds were attending school, previously been attending Green Lane Pro (?) School.  The family entered on 13 March 1906 and left of 26 March 1906 as they returned to the Knottingley Canal.

If your family are from the area, you will surely find these lists fascinating, especially as you will know the names of families from your research – they could be neighbours, employers or relatives.  On the other hand, with no family connections to Altofts, I am sure you will still find the entries just as interesting.

The school entries for Pope & Pearson, West Riding School can be found here.