Are you interested in tracing your family tree but don’t know where to start?
A six-week course, Researching Your Family History: An Introduction, will be starting at Mansfield Library on Wednesday 4th June at 10.30am to 12.30pm (running every Wednesday up to 9th July).
Suitable for beginners in family history, the course will introduce you to the main types of records available for your research. You will discover where to locate family history documents and online information, as well as developing your research skills to help you make sense of what you find.
At the beginning of the course, you will discuss important first steps to take before starting to explore family history records, indexes and information available online, as well as in libraries and archives. Focusing mainly on records of England and Wales, examine birth, marriage and death records, census returns, the 1939 Register, and parish registers. The course will also give a brief introduction to other sources including newspapers, trade directories, electoral registers, and wills / probate records. Using sample documents and case studies, you will develop your research skills and learn search strategies to help you when growing your own family tree. Suggestions will also be given on how to organise and present your research.
The course costs £42.00 (or may be free if you are in receipt of certain benefits). For more information and to book your place, please visit www.inspireculture.org.uk/FamilyHistoryJune25, call Ask Inspire on 01623 677200 or email learning@inspireculture.org.uk.
Heritage talk at Mansfield Library
Local author and historian Adrian Gray will be at Mansfield Library on Tuesday 17th June – join him at 2.00pm to hear all about The Scandalous Marriages of the Sherwood Aristocracy. Rufford, Welbeck, Clumber and Thoresby were the ‘great houses’ of Sherwood, but the lords and ladies who lived there were often no better than the surrounding peasantry and often a good deal worse! Adrian’s new book ‘The Scandalous Lives of the Sherwood Forest Nobility’ tells the story of their illicit love affairs and disastrous gambling habits, and in this talk he focuses on some of the disastrous marriages they contracted. Did you know that modern divorce laws originated with a Sherwood Forest case? Find out how, and who was to blame, in this fascinating talk!
Tickets for this talk at £3.00 and early booking is highly advised – to purchase tickets, visit Mansfield Library, call Ask Inspire on 01623 677200 or book online at www.inspireculture.org.uk.