2018 Webinar Series – No 8

Six Months In with a New Study

with Melanie Caldicott and Karen Heenan-Davies

This is the eighth webinar in the Guild’s 2018 ten-part webinar series. Six Months In with a New Study will focus on how two of our Guild members approached starting or re-starting their surname research and one-name studies. The most often asked questions from new members are “how do I get started?” or “how do others work on their studies?” or “what should I focus on first?” While there is no one correct answer, there are some best practices that prove helpful to anyone just starting out with a study.

This month we get to learn how Melanie Caldicott and Karen Heenan-Davies have approached their studies. This webinar should be a great tutorial for members who have not yet registered a surname, members who have registered a surname but are still at the beginning stages, and long-term members who might want to share their experiences and/or get some new ideas. We will start with  a 45 minute presentation, followed by a 15-20 minutes question and answer session. Whether you are just beginning your one-name study or you are years in, learning how others “do it” is helpful in deciding what approach(es) you might want to adopt. 

Let’s meet the presenters

Melanie Caldicott started her first one-name study on her married name, Caldicott in 2017 and then began another this year on her paternal grandmother’s maiden name, Measures. She focuses her studies on family reconstruction, telling the stories of interesting people on her ONS website and building a community of people interested in the surname in a Facebook group. Her Caldicott ONS currently has just under 7,000 individuals and her Measures ONS, which is still in its infancy, has about 1,400 individuals, all in reconstructed families. If two one-name studies aren’t enough, Mel is also a library assistant, wife to Matt, and mum to her three children.

 

Karen Heenan-Davies’ interest in family history started out of desperation. With her parent’s ruby wedding anniversary looming, and no other ideas materialising for a suitable gift, she decided to present them with a written history of the family. It helped that at the time she worked in the same building as the Glamorgan county record office in Cardiff, the capital city of her native country of Wales. It meant she could nip down at lunchtimes to check the microfilms. But after two months, reality dawned that this was one gift that would not be ready in time. It took her eighteen months in fact. 

Karen’s interest in one-name research began, she admits, in similarly cavalier fashion. Karen joined the Guild in 2015, registering her maiden name of Heenan. Enthusiastically she grabbed all references to the surname in UK and Irish census and births, marriages and deaths records. But life intervened in the form of a job that involved extensive international travel. Then there was the small matter of a second degree to be completed. So the files sat unopened for three years.  

Newly retired this year Karen has returned to her one-name study, this time determined to put her professional background in journalism and public relations and her academic background in history to use as she follows the footprints of the Heenans. 

FYI – we did not have any handouts for this webinar. Notes are made on the recording for all websites mentioned during the webinar. Part 1 (the recording of Melanie Caldicott’s presentation) AND Part 2 (the recording of Karen Heenan-Davies’ presentation – the live webinar) are now available (see below). 

 

Be sure to register for any of our remaining webinars in the series by visiting the Webinars Events Page at the Guild Website. When you click on the link to register, you will be taken to the GoToWebinar registration page and see the “local” time (your computer’s time) for the webinar. You will receive a confirmation email, as well as reminder emails one day before and one hour before the start time.