The Peter Allen Memorial Lectures for 2011 held its second event earlier today (14th May) where over 40 people gathered to hear two talks given by local historians Sue Broughton and Alf Wheeler.
Alf Wheeler presented “The Baily Family.” Alf showed the famous local man y this name, Francis Baily, with a history of the man himself which included his success working on the stock markets and his travels to America, but perhaps the more well known association with the Royal Society and his finding of Baily’s Beads. Alf looked at a wider selection of his ancestors and relations, which included a range of locations around the world and abilities.
Photograph by Paul Young. The second PAML 2011 event. From left to right Dr Nick Young (Chair, Thatcham Historical Society), our second speaker Sue Broughton (Treasurer, Thatcham Historical Society), Leanne Corcoran (Tesco, Community Champion) and our first speaker Alf wheeler (Secretary, Thatcham Historical Society).
Sue Broughton then presented “Getting Started in Family History.” Sue took a slight twist on the conventional means of research here, that is using census records, and highlighted the importance of items such as trade directories, newspapers (local and national), diaries, libraries and various Internet resources such as the National Archives. Sue highlighted the use of these resources with examples from her own family tree. She showed how using newspapers and other resources, including wills, she was able to reconstruct the lives of individuals and trace missing family members or even in some cases discover unknown relations.
The event ended with Dr Nick Young (Chair Thatcham Historical Society) thanking the speakers, guests and supporters (Thatcham Town Council, Tesco, DevZen, Business Training Solutions and Newbury Building Society) for their continued support. Nick said:
the continued support for this event is amazing. Today’s subject is one that has grown in recent years, both in terms of what is available and the amount of people performing family research. The two talks today have shown what is possible with the materials available.