Bristol & Avon
Family History Society

Family history for the former county of Avon. Award winning journals, meetings open to all, and regular research sessions with helpful volunteers.

Our online
databases

 

Meetings
& Events

 
February 6, 2024

Apprenticeship Records

We invite you to join us for the February Bristol Group meeting next Monday (12th February) when Richard Holt will be talking about the history of apprenticeship and the sources that are available to the family historian. Discover how these sources helped research a ‘brick wall’ ancestor. The talk is online and begins at 7.30pm and is available to members only (joining details sent by email).If you are not a member you can join BAFHS here.
January 25, 2024

Digitising and destroying Wills

There is a consultation taking place regarding the digitising of Wills. It is all about saving money, as once digitised, the original Wills will be destroyed and not stored. BAFHS thinks this is a retrograde step, and should something happen to the digitised copy, or if it is incorrectly scanned, the Will can never be obtained again. We ask for your support by emailing your concerns to the ministry about this proposal. The full details are in the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/storage-and-retention-of-original-will-documents
January 24, 2024

Help my Ancestors have vanished!

One of the commonest problems faced by family historians is that ancestors suddenly vanish from the records often for no seeming reason. Next Monday, Simon Fowler will be looking at why this might be so. The Bath Group meeting is online at 7.30pm on Zoom – joining details sent to members in advance. More details at Help my Ancestors have vanished!
January 23, 2024

Hidden in Plain Site – handout

We’ve had some lovely feedback following our last talk which was by Mia Bennett, looking at free online sources. Mia put together a handout to accompany her talk – this is available from your Member Dashboard on the website – you will need to log in as a member. Follow the link to “Recorded Meetings” and her handout is at the bottom of the Dropbox page.
 

Build your bridge
to the past with BAFHS

Formed in 1975, the Bristol & Avon Family History Society supports contact between members with regular meetings and a quarterly Journal. We assist members with problems encountered during research work.  The society promotes and encourages the public study of family history, genealogy and associated interests. Like most other family history societies, BAFHS is run by enthusiastic volunteers.