The Guild’s Latest Membership Landmarks Posted 14 October 2016 by Clifford KemballThe Guild of One-Name Studies has reached two further membership milestones. Firstly the Guild of One-Name Studies membership has exceeded 3,000 for the first time ever. Secondly the number of individual surnames registered with the Guild has exceeded 9,000. These milestones continue to demonstrate the success of the Guild of One-Name Studies and its increasing popularity worldwide. The Guild now has 3,022 members spread across the world, studying 9,007 individual surnames. The membership of the Guild now stands at 3,022, 2,184 are from the UK, 354 from the US, 196 from Australia, 114 from Canada 71 from New Zealand and 32 from the Republic of Ireland. The remainder are from twenty other countries. 28% of the membership is from non-UK regions, which is a valuable step towards increased worldwide membership for the Guild. The Guild currently has 9,007 individual surnames registered with the Guild. To check whether the surnames you are interested in are included in these registered names go to the Guild’s website www.guild-dev.org and enter the surname in the surname search box. The continued increase in the Guild’s membership every year since the Guild was founded in 1979 (an achievement not many Family History organisations have managed) is a testament to the popularity of the Guild Worldwide and the benefits it offers to its members. Details of all the Guild facilities can be found at: www.guild-dev.org/about-the-guild/membership-benefits where you can find out: • more about undertaking a One-Name Study • the benefits of joining the Guild of One-Name Studies, and the assistance members of the Guild can provide to anyone researching their family history on any of the 9,007-plus names currently being researched. Cliff Kemball, the Guild’s Publicity Officer, said today: These new landmarks represent more significant milestones for the Guild of One-Name Studies and are a testament to the continued development of the Guild internationally and the benefits membership provides. We hope that this trend continues into 2017 and beyond and reaffirms the Guild as the World’s leading organisation for One-Name Studies.
2017 Guild Conference & AGM Posted 5 October 2016 by Departed MemberOne-Name Studies – Port and Starboard MacDonald Botley Park Hotel Winchester Road, Boorley Green, Southampton, SO32 2UA Friday 31st March – Sunday 2nd April 2017 Click here for the Conference Programme. Booking details for the Conference: To book on this Conference, you can use our online booking form¹ in any of three ways: Book online and pay online via PayPal or credit card; For Guild members, book online and pay by direct bank transfer through your bank, quoting the reference number given on the form (this is the method which represents the least cost to the Guild); Fill in the booking form online, then print it and send it through the post with your cheque. Alternatively, you can download our flyer booking form, which can be printed, filled-in, and posted, with a cheque to: Alan Moorhouse, Guild Conference Booking 2016, Whites, 8 Strachans Close, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 3EB. For further details, contact the conference organiser, or telephone the Guild HelpDesk on 0800 011 2182. ¹Please note, when booking on a conference either by post or online, the Guild’s “Distance Selling” terms and conditions.
The Future of Genealogy Software Posted 8 September 2016 by W Paul FeatherstoneIn a fascinating article Dick Eastman (a member of the Guild) posted an article on the above topic it can be seen here; https://blog.eogn.com/2016/09/06/the-future-of-genealogy-software/#more-15050 Some might agree with the sentiments expressed in the article. However, most people seem still to be in the stage of believing that somehow we lose control of our research if it is not on our own PC or laptop. The chance to develop our research on the web via a web site using The Next Generation software Dick mentions is now possible. The best thing about using this method it that there is only one copy (apart from backups) and it is always available on any device that is connected to the internet, no matter where you are. Guild members now have the chance to discover how this works and experiment by getting a website via the Members’ Websites Project. Available here W Paul Featherstone
Guild of One-Name Studies Is Now Available at FamilySearch.org Posted 6 September 2016 by Clifford KemballThe online resource helps people trace the possible origins and variations of their last name. LONDON, U.K., and SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (September 6, 2016)—The Guild of One-Name Studies, a charitable organization that promotes facts about given surnames, and FamilySearch International, a nonprofit and the largest genealogy organization in the world, announced today that the guild’s collections will now be searchable at FamilySearch.org. The partnership gives guild members another source for preserving their great work while also allowing more researchers across the globe to benefit from exploring the variant spellings of their personal surnames and possibly connect with others throughout the world who have the same last name. The study of one’s last name (or surname) involves researching all known occurrences of that particular surname in all identifiable resources worldwide, as opposed to researching only the ancestors or descendants of a person. These rich compiled studies can assist a family history researcher to see the geographical distribution of surnames in their tree over centuries, which can help in reconstructing family lines bearing variants of those names. A common hope of customers who use surname studies is to identify the actual geographic locale of origin of a family surname. This outcome could very well happen for unique surnames, but common surnames that reflect an occupation (such as “Farmer” or “Fisher”) or patronymic-type surnames (such as “Johnson” or “Williamson”) may not have a single place of origin. Cliff Kemball, guild publicity manager, said, “The partnership with FamilySearch gives guild members another method of preserving their one-name study data. Their data is fully preserved for the long term, while still remaining within the control of Guild members, who may update, replace, or delete it as their work develops.” The guild was founded in 1979 and has over 2,980 members studying over 8,935 individual surnames. The Guild of One-Name Studies website launched on April 1, 2016, and is continually expanding its list of surnames. The guild expects the volume of data submitted by guild members to increase significantly now that they can make their research contributions online. And teaming up with FamilySearch.org ensures that more people are making interesting discoveries about their surnames. David Rencher, the chief genealogy officer for FamilySearch, said, “The rigorous standards and guidelines required by the Guild of One-Name Studies for members of the guild make this the highest quality data available for these surnames. Those who administer and oversee the collection of this data have spent decades collecting all instances of the surnames from a wide variety of records. Since many of these sources are yet to be made available on the Internet, this new set of records on FamilySearch.org is a rich new source of information.” To see if your surname has been researched by the guild community, go to www.FamilySearch.org. In the top menu, hover your mouse pointer over Search, and in the drop-down menu, click Genealogies. In the Last Names field, enter the surname you are interested in researching. Click the down arrow on the blue All button, and click Guild of One-name Studies. Then click the blue Search button. More information about the Guild can be found at www.guild-dev.org, where researchers can also register their own surnames. About FamilySearch FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources for free at FamilySearch.org or through more than 4,921 family history centers in 129 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. About the Guild of One-Name Studies The Guild of One-Name Studies is the world’s leading organisation for one-name studies. A one-name study is a project researching facts about a surname and all the people who have held it, as opposed to researching a particular pedigree (the ancestors of one person) or descendancy (the descendants of one person or couple). The guild is a charitable organisation dedicated to promoting the public understanding of one-name studies and the preservation and accessibility of the resultant information. Founded in 1979, the guild now has over 2,980 members spread across the world studying over 8,935 individual surnames. Contacts Guild of One-Name Studies: Cliff Kemball, Publicity Manager Phone: UK +44-0208 467 8865, UK Freephone: 0800 011 2182 Email: publicity@guild-dev.org FamilySearch: Paul Nauta, PR Manager Phone: US +1-801-240-6498 Email: nautapg@FamilySearch.org IP No. 2016-2870957