Author Archives: miltonabbashistorygroup

Bills and Receipts of the Overseers of the Poor of Milton Abbas 1787- 1823

In the Dorset History Centre there are some 140 pieces of paper catalogued at PE-MIL/OV/2. These are the bills and receipts of our Overseers of the Poor. We are in the process of transcribing them. They provide further information to … Continue reading

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Milton Abbas shoemaker

We have the account book of Joseph Rogers 1830 – 1839. It gives a unique glimpse into the life of a shoe maker in a rural Dorset village. The handwriting of Joseph Rogers, is small and cramped and this was … Continue reading

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the most tedious document…

Amongst the hundreds of documents that we have transcribed this is surely the pinnacle of tedium – an Indenture between John Tregonwell and John Harding, Charles Rawleigh, Thomas Radford, Robert Freke, 1678. Here is a sample: ………if she the s[ai]d … Continue reading

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Telling Stories of the Old Town of Middleton

We came across this piece in the Summer 2020 issue of the magazine ‘Who do you think you are?’. It is on page 46, in an article titled ‘The Lasting Value of Vouchers’. This magazine is free to read for … Continue reading

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Transcribing

This is a recent example of the kind of transcription that takes so many hours of painstaking work. It is a tiny part of the will of Richard Squybbe 1591. At least it is in English! Some wills of this … Continue reading

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Milton Abbas house history

For those exploring their house histories we have just transcribed the 1920 Electoral Register, and are transcribing all of the available Registers. We have saved the electoral rolls using the Dorset Library free access to Ancestry. There seems to be … Continue reading

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A House Through Time, BBC2

We have been watching David Olusoga’s third series on ‘A House Through Time’ broadcast on BBC2 This is a fascinating programme showing how good research can bring to life ordinary people and how they faced tragedies in a particular household. … Continue reading

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Free Access to Ancestry

During Covid19 Libraries West are giving free access to the library edition of Ancestry to members at home, (previously only available at the library). If you have a Dorset Libraries card you first need to log in to your Libraries … Continue reading

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The National Archives free downloads

TNA are providing free downloads of some of their digitised documents. These are mostly probates of wills. These were previously £3.50. Go to their website to find out more. The downloads are pdf. We have taken advantage of this to … Continue reading

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Overseers of the Poor Accounts Books

There are four books in all which cover the period 1771 – 1836. No others exist. One of our transcribers has single handedly just completed the transcription of all 229 pages of the third book in this series which covers … Continue reading

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