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SDFHS 40th Anniversary

Posted on 8th August 2015

We are celebrating our 40th Anniversary in 2015, reflected in the content of the latest edition of The Greenwood Tree, as summarised by the Editor, Bob Barber 40 years on, and to mark the occasion this anniversary edition of The Greenwood Tree has 40 pages As well as lots of original articles, news and regular features, there are several pieces looking at the early days of the Society, and musings on the enormous changes that have taken place in the pursuit of family history I would like to... more

Reflections on a Family History Journey

Posted on 26th July 2015

In spring this year Kerri Curtis made the long journey from Tasmania to the south-west of England, tracing the history of her family back to villages in Somerset and Dorset It was my mother who inspired in me an avid interest in our family history When I was a child, she told me stories about her father’s migration to Australia from Wales in the 1920s The rest of his family – mother, father, sister and brothers, had followed a few years later, settling in a small country town in New South... more

Tracking down John Deacon – basketmaker in Bristol

Posted on 13th May 2015

Barbara Elsmore is researching the Deacon family of basketmakers and here describes how enlisting the help of other SDFHS members helped her to track down a missing son On Saturday 16 May Barbara will be talking in Sherborne about basketmaking as an occupation in the first of our occasional series of events What did your Ancestors Do The other speaker will be John Damon on 'Families in the Utilities': full details I have just read Patricia Spencer's excellent article in the latest Greenwood... more

The US Civil War

Posted on 14th April 2015

2015 marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the end of the US Civil War and to commemorate this we had four talks at our Family History Centre in Sherborne on Saturday 11 April The event was the inspiration of our Librarian Emeritus, Robin Ansell, who has had an almost life-long interest in the War and who brought along part of his extensive collection of books and memorabilia Fittingly Robin was the... more

William Rashley: was he a scoundrel?

Posted on 7th April 2015

Jane Harrington, a member of the SDFHS, tells the story of her great grandfather and the unanswered questions about his life and marriage My great grandfather, William John Rashley, born in Burton Bradstock in 1861, died quite young We knew that because my mother had never met him and that’s what she’s been told She thought she’d been told that, anyway She’d certainly never heard him talked about Her own mother, Annie Laura, had lived with a maternal aunt and uncle, Laura and... more

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