FAMILIES DATABASE - LONG-TERM PROJECTS

 

I refer to this page in my notes on Lates pages released. To keep those notes simple, and to give myself greater scope to identify projects that I am working on, I am now reporting the main projects below. However, I will not show here the smaller projects that do take up much of my time.

Peter Barns-Graham
Page last updated 12.03.22

 

Particular Sources

(1) 'Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica', referred to within the database as "MGH" (see that tab on Sources & Acknowledgements). I have just completed my first trawl through the volumes that I have of this fantastic source. However, there are still several volumes that I have not yet found copies of (see note just below), and there is a long list of pages in various volumes that I left out of my first trawl to be done at a later date, so I do not expect to be finished with MGH for a while yet.
Note. I think I have all the volumes up to Series 5 Volume 5 (1925). I would welcome being advised where to find later volumes, preferably downloadable for free.

(2) Mervyn Archdall's 7-volume update (published 1789) of John Lodge's 'Peerage of Ireland' (1754). This is known to contain some errors, so working through it will be slow as it will have to be checked against other sources, but it is one of the great works on major Irish families.

(3) From time to time I will dip back into various of the works mentioned on Sources & Acknowledgement. If a work is mentioned there then it is likely that I have already spent some time on it but, for the larger works, there will almost certainly have been gaps in that coverage.

Search for better sources

The Sources & Acknowledgements page identifies many of the sources that I use most often and comments on my use of other web sites. Noting that my database is rather large, I have sometimes had to chose between relying on a source that I view as 'suspect' and not including an interesting family or connection at all. As part of my general aim to steadily improve the database as well as expand it, from time to time I trawl around the database to see where I have relied more than I like on sources that have not impressed me 'enough'. [One clue for this is use of the phrase 'various web sites'.] I have found that many books are available online now, in sites such as archive.org, that were not available a few years ago. If you have found a source that I am likely to have access to (preferably for free) and think that it would help me improve a page, or include a new one, please let me know.

Multi-branch families

I sometimes focus on 'multi-branch families', many of which were Scots who seem to have had more of a tradition of documenting junior cadet branches than the English did and who are normally easier to follow than Welsh & Irish families. So far I have worked on the Burghs, Campbells, Carews, Frasers, Hamiltons, Leslies, MacDonalds, Mackenzies, Montgomerys, Munros & Sinclairs.
* Other families to be covered in due course will probably include Bruce, Bulkeley, Corbet, Douglas, Johnston, Leigh, Murray, Ogle & Stewarts.
* I am still stuck on the Staffords so any suggestions on them would be welcome.

Old Welsh families

I am finding this project to be quite difficult but I intend to keep plugging-on with it. I made a major start on it some years ago using ‘Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire Families’ by John Edwards Griffith (1914) but have yet to complete a full trawl through that. Some time ago, to help me control the work, I set up a page called The Tribes of Wales so, if this project interests you, I suggest that you keep an eye on that page. Sources still to be used include:
* 'Visitations of Wales' by Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick (2 volumes, 1846, based on the works of Lewys Dwnn (c1550-1616)).
* 'Annals and Antiquities of The Counties and The County Families of Wales' by Thomas Nicholas (2 volumes, 1872).
* 'History of Brecknockshire' by Joseph Russell Bailey, Baron Glenusk (2 volumes, 1909, based on 1809 works by Theophilus Jones).

The Ancient & Mythical and Continental sections of the database

It is rare that I work on these sections simply because they are included merely 'for fun'. I do not take them very seriously, though I agree with those of you who find them interesting. However, I do accept that they need more work to get them 'up to standard'. Much of what is there at the moment came from ‘Royal Genealogies. The genealogical tales of emperors, kings and princes from Adam to these times.’ by James Anderson (1736). I regained access to that rare & fascinating (but not always reliable) book in February 2022 and will be revisiting it in the near future. Other sources I expect to use include:
* 'Genealogia Antiqua or Mythological and Classical Tables' by William Berry (1816).

 

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