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Archiver > ENG-WISBECH-AREA > 2008-04 > 1208188169


From: Alan Gresley <>
Subject: [WISBECH] A Call for Action for bridges to be built
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:49:29 +1000


Hi Everyone

Many moon ago I launched a site named Wisbech and the Fenlands. By
ignorance on my part (an poor grammar) the later part of the name
"Fenlands" was incorrect. It should have been Fens instead of Fenlands.

Then over there is this site has grown to become a major entry point for
research in the Fens around Wisbech. One major motive was to link or
coordinate Fens research. Another reason was that it may in return help
me in my own research since I live in Australia.

When Mike Wagner kindly emailed me scans on my birthday in 2006, instead
of it being a trill, it was more of a anticlimax. It sort of broke my
spirit. The first link on the links page of the Wisbech and the Fenlands
site is this.

http://www.fenlandfhs.org.uk/


The odd thing about this is that visiting this site will show no link to
Wisbech and the Fenlands. This is the situation that is faced with many
sites like FreeREG. It is the great divide between the FHS and the
freebies. I myself am a member of the FFHS and have purchased Microfiche
from the CFHS. My outlook is that there should be bridges build between
the FHS and the freebies sites.

The problem for the FHS is that the freebies sites takes potential
revenue away since a researcher does not have to purchase Microfiche etc
from the FHS. This is like huge wall to hurdle if you live overseas. I
myself would have to join over 40 FHS in Great Britain and buy 1000s of
microfiche etc. to be able to better my research. My research has
largely been possible because of a lady in Sydney. The parishes in
question all running north to south are Walsoken, Emneth, Outwell and
Upwell. If you're an overseas researcher then you will have great
difficultly in researching your ancestors from these parishes.

Apart from myself I have great gratitude for Carol Markillie who has
tirelessly transcribed over 50,000s parish records. I have the
permission from her to include such transcriptions into the Wisbech
Index. The first join installment will be 700 marriages for the parish
of Elm.

Another big player is the person behind this wonderful site.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tinstaafl/

Also of special note is John Bland who first proposed a much needed list
for the Peterborough area.

There is also Ann McClean efforts and her site.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cawthorn/FHmisc/fhpage1.html


Also there is Farne Hunt who gave me her transcriptions of the 1891
census of Moulton which I indexed.

http://contueor.com/wisbech/parishes/moulton/cen91.htm


This list could continue but I will run out of room in this message. I
have neglected to mention a few names but a search of my various webmail
accounts would be required (one name is Sheila WB). My call of action is
to help set up these bridges that are missing (start the ball rolling).

I also started a submission page on my site and have receive many 1000s
of submissions but as I was to come to realization that most of these
are un-usable since it require me to edit every entry and insert each
field into it's proper place in an excel database. This is why I haven't
made much progress with the many 10,000s of transcriptions that Carol
Markillie has posted on various mailing lists. I am open for submissions
but they need to be in a comma delimited format. This format is seen on
the submission page of my site.

http://contueor.com/wisbech/submissions/

One example of a comma delimited format is.

1756,Mary Ann,Johnson,John,Smith,Mary,John,illegitimage

This is the same format that FreeREG uses.

On my end a have one major problem and that is this site.

http://contueor.com/wisbech/

This is a broken web site and cannot be fixed. Hopefully soon I will use
my newly found web coding skills to replace this broken site with a
newly coded site. So what I can bring to the meeting point (the bridge)
are these skills.

1. Building correctly coded website that can easy be changed and maintained.

2. Creating Indexes.

3. Knowledge and experience with web hostings and web servers.

4. And of course transcribing those water stained registers (my love).


I would like to share my records with FreeReg but I would also like some
records in return that I can create indexes out of. This is important
because FreeReg is a search-able datebase that requires exact fields.
This means that with some obscure (hard to read) parish register entry
an best guess of the Forname, Surname or date must be given. The Wisbech
Index or even the transcribed records by FHS are browse-able indexes. A
classic example is found in my transcript of the Terrington St. Clement
marriage register.

1693?????ON??PR

????ON is impossible to find via a search-able datebase but can give a
good clue in a browse-able index.

I am very happy to allow anyone to add to my site. I desire for the site
to be a community effort than just a work of a few people. I can freely
offer server space. To keep Wisbech and the Fenlands on the web cost me
over $100 dollars a year. I will keep on paying this since it would be a
devastating resource to lose, especially for overseas researchers.

I give thanks to all the contributers and subscriber (over 250) on this
list. Lets make this a merry place for everyone.


Alan Gresley




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