The 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

Care and Consideration Seminar

National Railway Museum, Leeman Road, York YO26 4XJ

09:30am for 10:00am on Saturday 5th November 2016

This seminar is being held at the greatest railway museum in the world and home to the UK’s national rail collection and we will look at records and their preservation, copyright and children’s homes. There will be an opportunity over the lunch period to visit the Search Engine railway archive and library at NRM and on Friday November 4^th an optional visit has been arranged to the Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, with a guided tour and document display at 1.30pm.

Twitter #GuildYork

Programme

09:30 – 10:00	Arrival: Registration and Coffee
10:00 – 10:15	Welcome to the Seminar – Jackie Depelle
10:15 – 11:15	Exploring the Retreat Archive – Dr Katherine Webb (Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York)
11:15 – 11:30	Comfort Break
11:30 – 12:30	Copyright – Help or Hindrance in the Electronic World – Rev. Graham Cornish, Copyright Consultant (The Copyright Circle)
12:30 – 14:00	Lunch Break
	(including opportunities to visit the museum galleries or attend a free talk with document display at 12.40 or 13.20 in The Search Engine)
14:00 – 15:00	Caring for Your Digital Records – Stefanie Davidson, Records Management, Collections and Digital Archives Co-ordinator (West Yorkshire Archive Service)
15:00 – 15:30	Tea Break
15:30 – 16:30	No Place Like Home – Researching Children’s Homes and Their Records – Peter Higginbotham
16:30	Close of Seminar
16.30 – 18.00	(Opportunity to visit the museum galleries before they close)

 

Applications to attend are welcome from Guild members, family historians, genealogists, and members of the general public having an interest in the subject matter.

The seminar cost including refreshments and buffet lunch is £22.50.

Free parking has been arranged at the venue for seminar delegates.

If you will be travelling by train the Railway Museum is just a few minutes (half mile) walk from York station but please contact us if you will need a lift from the station.

Places are limited to 30 for the optional Friday visit to the Borthwick Institute for Archives for a guided tour with document display at 1.30pm (for which a nominal charge will be made) and 2 groups of 15 for the free Saturday lunchtime talk in The Search Engine ; if you would like a place on either of these options please email seminar-booking@guild-dev.org once you have made your booking for the actual seminar.

We would like to ensure that any delegate with a disability can participate fully in this event.  Anyone with any special requirements should telephone the Guild Help Desk on 0800 011 2182 or email seminar-booking@guild-dev.org.

An accommodation listing, including details of a Friday evening meal, is available here.

Joining instructions are available here.

Booking

To book on this seminar, you can use our our online 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 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 booking form flyer, which can be printed, filled-in, and posted, with a cheque to:
Alan Moorhouse, [Seminar Bookings], 8 Strachans Close, STROUD, Gloucestershire, GL5 3EB.

Bookings close on 23rd October 2016. All bookings will be confirmed by email, with full joining instructions, on or shortly after this date.

Further information may be obtained by telephoning the Guild HelpDesk on 0800 011 2182, or by email from seminar-booking@guild-dev.org

DNA Seminar

National Star College, Ullenwood, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL53 9QU

09:30am for 10:00am on Saturday 13th August 2016

We return to Cheltenham for a long overdue DNA seminar, starting with a headline talk on Richard III by Dr Turi King of the University of Leicester.  We will then offer two parallel streams with sessions aimed at different levels of experience: Starting Out/Basics (B) and Intermediate/Advanced (A), and concluding with an Advanced/Expert (E) session.  All sessions will be led by leading DNA experts from within and without the Guild.  The day will conclude with a Wrap Up Session/Q+A panel with many of the day’s speakers and other experts.

Programme

09:30 – 10:00	Arrival: Registration and Coffee
10:00 – 10:10	Welcome to the Seminar – Alan Moorhouse
10:10 – 11:10	Richard III: The Resolution of a 500 Year Old Cold Case – Dr Turi King (University of Leicester)
11:10 – 11:20	Comfort Break
11:20 – 12:20	B1 – DNA Basics for Beginners – Geoff Swinfield
	A1 – Promoting Your Y Project – Debbie Kennett
12:20 – 13:30	Lunch Break
13:30 – 14:30	B2 – Starting Your Y DNA Project – John Cleary
	A2 – Understanding Y DNA Results and Grouping People – Maurice Gleeson
14:30 – 15:00	Tea Break
15:00 – 16:00	B3/A3 – Using Autosomal DNA – Barbara Griffiths
	E1 – Advanced Y DNA Testing – James Irvine
16:00 – 16:10	Comfort Break
16:10 – 16:45	Wrap Up Session/Q+A – (Panel)
16:45	Close of Seminar

 

Applications to attend are welcome from Guild members, family historians, genealogists, and members of the general public having an interest in the subject matter.

Seminar cost including refreshments and buffet lunch is £20.00.

We would like to ensure that any disabled delegate can participate fully in this event; National Star College is a fully accessible venue.

If you will be travelling by train please contact us for help finding a lift from Cheltenham or Gloucester station.

Anyone with any special requirements should telephone the Guild Help Desk on 0800 011 2182 or email seminar-booking@guild-dev.org.

An accommodation listing is available here.

Joining instructions are now available here.

Booking

To book on this seminar, you can use our our online 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 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 booking form flyer, which can be printed, filled-in, and posted, with a cheque to:
Alan Moorhouse, [Seminar Bookings], 8 Strachans Close, STROUD, Gloucestershire, GL5 3EB.

Bookings close on 31st July 2016. All bookings will be confirmed by email, with full joining instructions, on or shortly after this date.

Further information may be obtained by telephoning the Guild HelpDesk on 0800 011 2182, or by email from seminar-booking@guild-dev.org