The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 51 No.1 | June 2024

Local Group Programmes

How do you know you have non-conformist ancestors? This may be simply by looking for baptisms, marriages and deaths not taking place in the local parish church. Generally, the non-conformist record keeping was better kept than the local parish register. In 1851 a National census noted that Sunday attendance at Non-Conformist chapels was similar to those at Anglican churches, and was even higher in some industrial areas was higher. Some chapels had their own burial grounds. Old maps can show locations for burial grounds which no longer exist. Some cemeteries have/had markers dividing 'consecrated' ground from 'general' - and 'general' meant not Church of England, so a burial register stating 'general' is another clue for non-conformity. There was persecution of non-conformists for many years. The protestation returns of 1641 1642 listed those adult males who swore an oath of allegiance to the protestant religion, therefore those not in the returns are likely to have been non-conformists. Non-conformists wouldn't swear allegiance so couldn't go to university or hold public office, and so some set up businesses instead. Quakers set up businesses like Rowntree, Fry’s and Cadbury’s, other non-conformists included Burberry (Baptist). In some cases, the eldest son was baptised in an Anglican church. Jackie recommended checking the holdings for record offices and archives to see what is listed for non-conformists, and there are now records on FindMyPast, Ancestry and The Genealogist. She also recommended reading the guides on The National Archives website. (March) Members’ Evening on a loose theme of 'unusual ancestors' Jim didn’t have any unusual ancestor but gave details of a friend of his (Sohail Husain) who has written a book about his parents. The father was a Muslim immigrant from India and his mother was a German Jew and both were affected by the major events of the last century: the First World War, The Depression, the Partition of India and the Holocaust. Phil recounted the story of one of his Gard ancestors from the Bristol area who, strangely, married in Kensington. Three months later there was a birth certificate for a child who was subsequently informally adopted. Then, 14 months later, there was another marriage for the same couple, this time in their home area. The supposition is that the respective families knew nothing about the first marriage or the child. John mentioned his grandfather who was a medical missionary in India. An American student had produced a Wikipedia page all about him, but it contained some omissions and errors. However, Wikipedia won't change most of these on John's say-so because of a 'conflict of interest'. Furthermore, they won't accept the details as written in John's grandfather's autobiography! Sandra told us about one of her grandfathers, born in 1878 to a working-class family and recorded in various documents as a coal and wood dealer until at least 1914, when he was 36. However, he was subsequently recorded as a thatcher, smith and carpenter without having served an apprenticeship in any of these trades. He apparently thatched the Potters

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