Note this website is mostly concerned with local and social history, in particular that of Milton Abbas, Dorset.
We are run by volunteers who occasionally take a holiday – please be patient if you do not get an immediate reply.
Q. How can I join the Milton Abbas Local History Group?
A. If you wish to join and gain access to our research then Contact Us initially. Payment can be arranged from inside and outside the UK by BACS transfer.
Q. Can you do family history research for me?
A. We do not do generally do family history research. We are a local history group, using members and volunteers, concerned with the history of Milton Abbas and the social history of similar rural Dorset parishes.
Q. Why are transcriptions so important?
A. It allows us to search for names in documents, such as Overseers of the Poor Accounts, Churchwardens Accounts, Settlement Papers, Bastardy Papers, Wills and all the others. For example Lucy Legg occurs in several documents which allows us to build up a life story for her. Using the Overseers and the Churchwardens Accounts we can track individuals through time and see their ascent and descent into poverty.
Q. How much would it cost to search your records or transcriptions for my family name?
A. We do not charge fees. If your ancestor’s name is of interest (see this list) then we may search our data sets and may share information with you. Please consider becoming a member. This will give you access to our research. Many of our Records are copyright and cannot be shared.
Q. Can you provide me with the transcription of a document?
A. Members only have access. We use Google Drive for filesharing convenience as it gives us some control of what happens to the document.
Q. How can I research my ancestors from Milton Abbas?
A. Explore our website thoroughly – there are over 100 pages of information. Use the Dorset History Centre catalogue. Ancestry Special Collections have images of many documents from the Dorset History Centre. And use opcdorset.org. For family historians who want records we recommend Dorset Family History Society and Somerset and Dorset Family History Society,
Q. Can I help the Milton Abbas Local History Group?
A. You certainly can! We have volunteers from Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand and the UK transcribing documents. Due to their work we have made tremendous progress on our research. There are lots of opportunities for helping us – see Our Ambitions web page. We have many other ideas too, just in case you don’t fancy any of those!
Q. Can you share or send me original documents?
A. Unfortunately most of the documents are COPYRIGHT.
Milton Abbas Local History Group, Dorset, UK 