TERRE HAUTE —
If you have ancestors who trace back to England or Wales within the past 175 years, then the Free BMD website at RootsWeb, at freebmd.rootsweb.com/, is the place to visit.
In 1837, Britain passed legislation requiring the civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths. Prior to this year, these vital records were kept in the parish churches, primarily with the Church of England, but also in the non-conformist parishes, both Catholic and Protestant. From 1837 and onward, each birth, marriage or death, was also recorded by the state and the information was placed into quarterly Civil Registration Indexes. These indexes are being transcribed, copied, and placed on line by a host of volunteers at the Free BMD website. To date, the site contains 211,673,964 transcriptions of distinct records and 268,171,475 total records.
After going to the site, click on the search bar to begin looking. The search engine contains several choices: first name, surname, relative’s name, type of record sought, district, county and date range. Be sure that your beginning date range is no earlier than September 1837, the quarter when civil registration began. All you really need to search is the surname and the date range, and you can set the districts and counties to “all,” if you don’t know where your ancestor came from.
I entered a search on my great-grandmother, Thomasine Sarah Sillick/Sellick. Because her first name could be spelled several different ways, I just used the Sillick surname, an open date range starting with September 1837 and ending in 1880, well after she arrived in the United States. I chose to search birth records, in all districts and all counties. Search results were listed by quarter and year. I found her listed in the March quarter of 1845, in the Liskard District in the county of Cornwall. Her reference book was Volume 9, page 170. I then clicked on the glasses icon or “view the original,” chose the jpeg format from a list, and was rewarded with a scanned photo of the original hand-written quarterly index page referenced above. So now I know she was born between March and June 1845 in Liskeard District, Cornwall (the quarterly indexes list all births in that quarter, with no specific birth date). If I want to order her actual birth record, I now have the reference to help me place that order.
I also have other options, such as adding a “postum” to her record saying that she married James Warrick in 1868 and eventually came to Clay County, Indiana, with the option of leaving my e-mail address for others to contact me. A great service, and all for free.
Back on the Free BMD home page, don’t overlook the links to FreeCen (free British census transcriptions) and FreeReg (free parish register information, which can be earlier than 1837). The FreeReg database currently contains more than 9,153,460 baptisms, 3,298,045 marriages and 6,303,253 burials in local parishes.
The FreeCen project is working on the 1841 through 1891 British censuses (these enumerate each household member by name). Going to this web page: www.freecen.org.uk/
statistics.html itemizes all the counties by year and will show you which censuses are 100 percent completed. Searching the 1851 Cornwall census for my great-grandmother at age 6 shows that she was a visitor in the household of Jenny Sellick, 70, widow and pauper, living in Callington, Cornwall. I already know that this Jenny was her grandmother. Jenny had another visitor on census day, Mary Ann Sellick, 17, who is my great-grandmother’s older sister. Both Thomazin and Mary Ann were born in the village of Calstock, Cornwall, (a good thing about the British census is that it lists both the town and county of birth), Jenny was born in North Tamerton, Cornwall, and Mary Ann is a “tin dresser” by trade. (Cornwall was full of tin mines).
All of this for free, and I didn’t have to leave my home to find it.
History
GENEALOGY: BMD website great for tracing England, Wales
- History
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSON: Emperor Constantine changes the world
The Emperor Constantine, the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire and the man who ended that empire’s persecution of Christianity, died this week (May 22) in 337 AD, having lived a life that would change the world.
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GENEALOGY: Library archives contain tons of information
Inside the archives room of the Vigo County Public Library, row after row of fragile documents, rare out-of-print books, and historic photographs are kept on shelves in a humidity and temperature-controlled room.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Historic efforts to open Center Street from Cherry to Swan
Efforts to open Center Street, from Cherry to Swan, spanned a half century or more.
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LOOKING BACK: 2002 — Valley drenched in wettest spring in 107 years
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star. -
HISTORICAL TREASURE: Some history wreathed in hair
From the unfortunate occurrence of Prince Albert’s death in 1861 came the social mores of proper mourning practices and accoutrements witnessed and endorsed by the admirers of Queen Victoria in her reign-long state of grieving.
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LOOKING BACK: 1987: League of Women Voters reorganizes
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: Here comes the bride
The newest major exhibit at the Historical Museum, which opens Tuesday, showcases wedding gowns worn by Vigo County residents.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Downtown changes featured in early 1927
During March and April of 1927 – about 85 years ago – the owners of interests in four major downtown Terre Haute theaters were negotiating to transfer their interests to representatives of Paramount Studios.
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GENEALOGY: Genealogy isn’t for the easily embarrassed
The saying goes, if you’re easily embarrassed or afraid of what you’ll find, don’t start doing genealogy.
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: The long, lost, last — the 27th —Amendment
Our very last constitutional amendment — the 27th Amendment — was ratified this week (May 7) in 1992 when Michigan became the 38th state to approve it.
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: The Haymarket Square Massacre
One unhappy byproduct of the Industrial Age was the growing discontent of its industrial workers, who constantly agitated for better pay and more humane working conditions.
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LOOKING BACK: 1962: Stands packed as Wiley takes county track title
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and the Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Death of Terre Haute jeweler gains national headlines
Terre Haute sought national publicity in 1910 through “Boosterism,” lauding the city’s significant advancements during the decade ending Dec. 31, 1909.
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GENEALOGY: Cemetery Committee to conduct restoration workshop
The Wabash Valley Genealogy Society’s Cemetery Committee will conduct an all-day cemetery restoration workshop on Saturday at the Smith Cemetery near Youngstown, Honey Creek Township, Vigo County, Ind.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: Harmonious history
In 1923, a group of singers calling themselves the Harmony Four entertained regularly over the radio and at civic and various club events.
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: Cleveland observes Lincoln’s funeral
The death of America’s greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, resulted in an outpouring of national mourning, the apex of which came in late April of 1865 when a specially outfitted train carried his body on a thirteen-day, 1,700-mile, eleven-city funeral procession from Washington, D.C., to his home and final resting place in Springfield, Ill.
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GENEALOGY: Many people can trace ancestry to Titanic
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, which occurred on April 14-15, 1912.
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LOOKING BACK: 1987: ISU bowling team at nationals again
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Sullivan County mine explosion kills 8 in 1878
Shortly after 4 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 21, 1878, an enormous explosion rocked the Handford Brothers mine about one-half mile north of the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad depot in Sullivan County.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: A common feature, but memorable
As an absolute architecture nerd, I tend to look at buildings noticing the odd ball things such as door hinges and door locks in addition to admiring the overall building.
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BRUCE'S HISTORY LESSONS: MLK’s letter written from a jail cell in Birmingham
This week (April 16) in 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. sat in a jail cell in Birmingham, Ala., having been arrested for violating a trumped-up court order that prohibited him and his followers from conducting various protest activities, most of which you can read about in the First Amendment.
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LOOKING BACK: 1962: Swope celebrates 20th anniversary
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: 1955 Babe Ruth League championship team to be feted
Currently in his 25th year as a college baseball coach, Rick Heller is in the midst of his third winning season at Indiana State and has embraced the university and the community.
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GENEALOGY: Long-awaited 1940 census is now available for the public
The long-awaited release of the 1940 census took place on April 2.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: Memories baked from scratch
On my Historical Treasure hunt, I was drawn to a pasteboard barrel 28 inches high and 18.5 inches across with the words “Calumet Baking Powder Bakes Best, Received Highest Award” on one side and “Calumet Baking Powder Always Pleases, Try It” on the other.
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BRUCE'S HISTORY LESSON: Thomas Jefferson's flights of fancy
Thomas Jefferson, born this week (April 13) in 1743, is — deservedly so — in the pantheon of American heroes.
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: J.K. Emmet’s first appearance at the Terre Haute Opera House
The first season of the magnificent Terre Haute Opera House, which featured many of the world’s premier celebrities, was a resounding success.
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GENEALOGY: Black Death had a monumental effect on world
One event in the past had a monumental effect on our ancestors, indeed determining who they would be. This was the advent and spread of bubonic plague, the Black Death. The plague originated in China in 1333. It was caused by a bacterium in fleas, which were carried by rats. The plague spread out of China via trading routes with the West (the Silk Road) and especially on ships, which carried flea-infested rats and provided a closed environment for people to infect each other.
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LOOKING BACK: 1987: 'Banana king' opens Farmer's Market
Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.
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HISTORICAL TREASURE: Hunting for sugary Easter treats
Among the many varieties of the Easter egg, none is more charming than the panoramic Sugar Egg. Three were recently given to the Vigo County Historical Museum by Judy Lowe and are shown in an Easter-themed display case in the entry hall.
- More History Headlines
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSON: Emperor Constantine changes the world
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