![[Image of the GFHS web site]](gfhs.gif)
The GFHS web site at http://members.aol.com/gfhsoc/index.htm
A version of this article first appeared in the September/October 1998 issue of Ancestry Magazine
The Internet's power for genealogical research is truly amazing. The speed and convenience of using the Internet are obvious. Perhaps the Internet's greatest contribution to genealogical research is its ability to overcome the long distances which are so often involved.
As amazing as the Internet itself is as a research tool, its power is best demonstrated when used in conjunction with other traditional research tools. The tools genealogists have always used - Family History Centers, genealogical societies, and libraries - remain the foundation of successful research. When the Internet is added to this mix of research tools, some very successful results can occur.
Using a mix of traditional tools and the Internet, some perplexing research problems may be solved quickly. This article gives an example of using this "mixed" approach to a specific research problem of a United States-based genealogist researching ancestors in Wales. In particular, the Internet's ability to overcome the barrier of distance in genealogical research is clearly demonstrated.
The film of the Penmark Bishop's Transcripts were duly ordered from my local Family History Center and researched. Various siblings were discovered, Ellen's parents were located, and Ellen's grandparent's marriage record was found.
On a single line, in terrible handwriting, the Transcripts revealed that Morgan Deere had married Jennet Llewelyn on November 3, 1796. No other information was given. There was no baptism record for Morgan Deere and there didn't appear to be any connection back past Morgan & Jennet marriage to any other Deeres in the Bishop's Transcripts. A Morgan Deere - relation unknown - had married a Catherine Thomas in 1775 and the couple produced various offspring. However, it did not appear that the Morgan Deere married in 1775 was either the father of the Morgan Deere married in 1796 or otherwise related. The Deere hunter had seemingly lost the trail.
Realizing that the Bishop's Transcripts were only copies of the original registers for Penmark, it was possible that the actual registers might contain more information for this marriage. Possibly information such as the bride & groom's home parishes if they were not native to Penmark. Such additional information might help push the Deere research back another generation past the apparent dead end in the Penmark records. But how to locate the actual registers? The Family History Library didn't have them filmed. The answer came in that other cornerstone of family history research - the local genealogical society.
Note - all the web sites mentioned in this article were located using Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet at http://www.CyndisList.com
The GFHS' web site includes a list of parish registers which the Society had transcribed and had available for saleon both microfiche and on paper. I ordered the Society's transcription of the Penmark parish registers by "snail mail" and waited. When the transcription finally arrived, I quickly found the marriage record of Morgan Deere and Jennet Llewelyn. The information given matched that from the Bishop's Transcript with no additional information. There was, however, a note along side this entry stating that original entry in the parish register contains "personal details such as status, occupation, or an exact address" which were not included in the GFHS' transcription. Now I had a lead that there was more information on the original registers, but still didn't have access to them. This information could be either very useful in the research or it might be nothing more than the bride & groom's status of "spinster" & "bachelor". There was no way to know for sure which without obtaining the record itself.
I consulted a copy of Phillimore's Atlas & Index of Parish Registers and found that the original Penmark registers had been deposited at both the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, Dyfed and at the Glamorgan Record Office in Cardiff, Glamorgan - . It would be a number of years in the future before I could ever hope of traveling to Wales to follow up on this lead.
![[Image of the GRO web site]](gro.gif)
This lack of contact information didn't stop me. I knew that there was a genealogy mailing list on the Internet for research in the county of Glamorgan. Many counties and areas in the United Kingdom have genealogy specific mailing lists. A web-based list of them may be found at
http://www.genuki.org.uk/indexes/MailingLists.html
Mailing lists allow you to send an electronic mail message to the mailing list's e-mail address and the mailing list software will automatically echo out your message to all the other subscribers to that mailing list. Both the posting of messages and subscribing to the mailing lists are free of charge. A query sent to a genealogical mailing list has the potential of being read by dozens or thousands of other subscribers, depending on the size of the list. Posting & subscription instructions for the Glamorgan genealogy mailing list are shown below:
![[Image of the Glamorgan Mailing List subscribe instructions]](lists.gif)
I composed a polite message asking if "some kind soul" with access to the Glamorgan Record Office could stop in and do a quick lookup for me. For the marriage record I was seeking, I knew the exact date for the exact event in the exact place in Glamorgan. This detail information would reduce burden on any nice person over in Wales who might volunteer.
I sent my message to the mailing list and received a reply the next day. A local Cardiff lady was scheduled to visit the GRO next Tuesday and would be glad to look up the marriage for me! I replied directly to her e-mail address with a profusion of thanks and more details on what, exactly, I was hoping to learn from the original records. I explained that the GFHS transcription had indicated that there was further information available on the marriage record itself. I made clear that it was this further information I was after.
The day after Tuesday, a message from this kind Cardiff lady arrived in my e-mail box. In part, the message read:
"There was no other information given, just their names and the date. I notice on the Glamorgan Marriage Index that it states (LP) which as you know means 'marriage by licence and personal details' but they certainly weren't entered in the Register, so I asked the assistant at the Record Office and was informed that the Licences for Penmark for the 1790s are held at Aberystwyth."
More profuse thanks were returned to this kind lady in my reply to her. Although I had not gotten the actual parish register entry, I had been given yet another sign to follow on the trail of my Deeres.
![[Image of the National Library of Wales web site]](nlw.gif)
using their thoughtfully provided English language links & descriptions as I am not bilingual in Welsh!), I visited the web page for their Department of Manuscripts and Records - http://www.llgc.org.uk/lc/lcs0001.htm. A helpful guide to their collections is provided and I quickly verified that they hold selected parish registers and marriage bonds. On their "Using the Collections" page, I found the statement
"In response to postal enquiries, the Department will provide information as to sources held by the Department, except where lengthy searches of catalogues and indexes are necessary, and verification of a single entry from documents or records where precise references and details are provided by the enquirer."
Their definition of "a verification of a single entry...where precise references and details are provided by the enquirer" match exactly the state of my Deere hunt. I knew the names, date, and place of the event but required further details from the original record.
Hoping that their policy on postal enquiries would be applied to e-mail enquiries as well, I used their How to contact the Library web page to find the e-mail address - ymh.lc@llgc.org.uk - for the Department of Manuscripts and Records. Composing a politely worded enquiry, I included what information I already knew about the marriage record, where the information had been obtained, and what specifically I was hoping to learn from a check of the original record. I sent off my e-mail to the Library with thanks in advance and waited. Five days later, I received a reply shown below.
![[Image of an e-mail from the National Library of Wales]](e-mail.gif)
Here then, finally, was the additional information from the original parish record! It arrived by e-mail only ten days after I had posted my original query on the Glamorgan genealogy mailing list!
My Morgan Deere was a widower when he married Jennet Llewelyn. Perhaps he was the same Morgan Deere who had married Catherine Thomas 21 years prior? Consulting the Glamorgan Family History Society's transcripts for Penmark again, there is a Catherine Deere being buried on August 15, 1791 which would make her Morgan a widower available to marry Jennet Llewelyn five years later. Tantalizing speculation which may still provide more trails to follow in chasing the Deeres.
It would have been possible to obtain the same result either via "snail mail" from the National Library, or by hiring a professional researcher over there, or by traveling to Wales myself. Most research problems lend themselves to either an all-traditional approach or the combination of research tools described above. However, my Deere ancestors have been as quick moving between locations and as clever at concealing their presence as their namesake fauna. The speed of the Internet in overcoming the distances involved in genealogical research has provided this Deere hunter with a decided advantage over his quarry.
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet - Wales at http://www.CyndisList.com/wales.htm
and
Welsh Genealogy at http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/index.html
Return to Genealogy & Technology Articles by Mark Howells
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