STEER-L Archives

Archiver > STEER > 2008-04 > 1208544454


From: "Jack Steer" <>
Subject: Re: [STEER] STEER resources
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:47:34 +0100
References: <6E8E4646882E244C89BA7CA3353405D501E87B0C@emea-slo-ex002.emea.cpwr.corp>


Gaynor,

Thanks for the thoughts. I just have two points, one is a bit longer than
the other.

1. Would it be worth setting up a web site where we can all take
responsibility to transcribe certain areas of the census returns and the BMI
information, taking the central towns and villages in Devon to start with
where the STEER name derives from, them branching out.>

I thought that was what John had planned when he opened his web site. Might
it be sensible for you to contact him off list?



2. Below is most of two emails that were written six years ago. I was the
author of one of them. The comments could be helpful.



There is only one bit of your message on which I have an opinion. You wrote

<The question is what is the best way to disseminate this to the list as I
could easily flood it.>

As far as flooding it is concerned, I am not really concerned, but it is not
for me to take that sort of decision, it is a matter for all subscribers. I
should have thought a bit at a time would not cause problems - Mike and
Philip did that with the Devon wills. All I know is that I'd love to see any
information that is new to me.

However this rather begs the real issue that I have been concerned about for
a little while and have recently been discussing with Mike. I have the same
problem as you, lots of information and no clear idea of what to do with it.
You have the advantage of being computer literate, my son number two did a
similar job to you and absolutely despairs of my antics. He is on his way
round the world at the moment, so can't be got at.

I thought it might it help if I copied some of the ideas I shared with Mike.
That is as far as it has got so far. Do we ask for other views in a more
public forum?

Your views would be extremely welcome.

<<I've now extracted almost all the A2A STEER references. There are
hundreds. Now what do I do with them.>>

<It wasn't a rhetorical question. Where do we go from here? Do I just sit
and accumulate or is there some way of sharing and developing this
information? I don't know the answer. What I do know is that I now have
about 4,000 STEER BDM in Devon, another 10,000 for the rest of Britain.
There are about 60 trees with a degree of information. And goodness knows
what else. Managing it is a nightmare. But I'm equally sure that there is a
great deal more lurking out there in other people's files.

How can it be pulled together.>

<The second problem is that as I've collected information, I've become ever
more aware of the gaps and possible errors. And perhaps most importantly any
filing system requires maintenance. That can be very time consuming and I
have a lot of stuff entered that needs bringing into the system.

So what I think I should like is a low energy activity that remains
available to others. I suspect that rules out books and so on, for the time
being at least.

The files I currently have are in four basic areas:-

1. STEER in Devon BDM - all referenced to source. Other names not so well
advanced.

2. Geographical files by parish for Devon elsewhere by county or country.
These all include relevant BDM, plus other information relevant to the
location.

3. Sundry STEER files - usually base information that is/should also be on
one of the first two. For example STEER entries in muster rolls, census etc

4. Other general files either background information e.g. 1835 poor Law
Amendment Act or lists I've culled from somewhere because they look
interesting.

There are two other sets. Firstly trees - am currently running (or have
information so to do) about 60 STEER trees. That would be a much lower
figure if people were not so secretive about what they hold, or greater if I
got at all those web references there are. The last files are just starting
with those sixteenth century entries and I plan to put a sort of card index
system for each individual. Perhaps then I'll be able to cross reference and
make some sense of it all.

All of these files are in Word 2000 for two reasons.

1. I understand it and it is readily accepted to almost everyone with whom I
am in contact and it seems unlikely that many recipients of information
would have or want access to better and more sophisticated programmes. Many
people on the STEER list are getting on a bit and have some difficulties
with the technology.

2. They are all created in a tabular form that allows them to be re-ordered
very easily. So I could send you the Bovey Tracey STEER births/baptisms in
date order, by first name of the STEER participant or whatever. That may not
be obvious when they arrive, but it does actually work, except for marriages
where I have the full set of information and I don't know how to solve the
problem. All files with marriages for example are set up the same way, so I
can merge without having to reformat the file. The other advantage of this
is that I don't mind how stuff arrives, as long as it can be turned into a
table and I can then sort the information. Ray Osborn has been sending me
some 1841 transcriptions, which have 13 fields. I get rid of 4 and
reorganise the other 9. Very easy as he separates fields with a comma, but
it wouldn't matter if it were a tab or colon or even at a push a space. Nor
does it when I pass it on, others can do the same to my strange ideas.

I've been arguing with Ray about this for a year. We just differ in detail,
but he has at last agreed that a file to cover all events is not possible
because of the large number of fields. I've been sent a few files like that
and they are very difficult to read. There are some on the web that are as
bad if not worse. Which is where the index card comes in.

Now to practicalities

<It might even be worthwhile considering a STEER one family surname web
site>

Agreed - but who would run it?

<How about an approach to Ancestry.com that would have them purchase your
data? You've put a lot of years into accumulating it, and the result might
subsidise perennial trips to the vineyards.>

I do not want perennial trips, I want to live there. And I'm really very
unhappy about Ancestry and their commercial attitude to public records.

<I suppose you could consider modularising the collection and farming it out
in chunks to your core Listies to manage. That way, for example, any new
data on say STEERs in Wales might be referred for storage and analysis to a
designated lynch pin member with Gallaisian interests- data on ESTURE etc in
France perhaps to Philip and so on.>

Agreed

<The problem with the idea is obviously that you lose control, and I suggest
you shouldn't do that. >

I didn't know I had any. I just see myself as a clerk.

<It seems to me that if the problem devolves to upgrading your access
capacity to a very large quantity of data, some of the IT freaks in your
neighbourhood would know of some electronic cataloguing software that would
do the trick. If compiling the data base to a set formula (something like
Endnote) presented a challenge, you might then consider farming it out on
disk or by attachment, plus the formulae, to a small group of your mates
(and you could count me in), who would each put in a few hours collating and
keying in.

That sort of easy access data base might generate a call to all Listies to
clean out their cupboards and storage boxes and build the ultimate STEER
collection.>

Sounds good - I have changed my mind about this, perhaps I'm getting too
old, but I now think that simplicity is really the key. Complex systems are
more likely to fail than ones that I can understand. I've just learned how
to use the toaster. Gedcom and similar things are way beyond me. You may
need to consider the elderly amongst us before embarking on any complex
plans.

JS 18.4.2008

The situation is far from simple with a number of different issues and it is
made more complex because there is so much technology and ideas and with the
opinions to go with them. My first reaction, which is also my professional
one, is to ask what we're trying to achieve and for whom. We have lots of
information but where and how we store it depends on who we want to reach.

Technology is OK, I've made my living out of it but I'm cautious about it,
most computer technology has fallen by the wayside and however we save our
collections it must be in form that has the greatest longevity. I was
interested in your discussions about simple tabular forms as I agree that
this simplicity rather than sophistication is the better approach, also what
ever we have it has to be useable by the many.

I think we're in agreement and my strength is to identify requirements and
then implement something that fits these purposes and I think I can
contribute something of value. I have two other issues. Firstly
commercialisation - I come from a business background and know that the
global interest in genealogy is being eyed as a commercial prospect. I
believe that we must protect against this but recognise that the efforts of
many do add value for the rest of us. The other issue is ownership and
people talking responsibility, this is similar to the first issue as much is
done on a voluntary and good will basis.

So where now?

I'm off to unscramble a Gedcom file so that I can understand the text.



Regards,

Jack Steer




----- Original Message -----
From: "Steer, Gaynor" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 1:19 PM
Subject: Re: [STEER] STEER from Bovey Tracey to Essex


> Would it be worth setting up a web site where we can all take
> responsibility to transcribe certain areas of the census returns and the
> BMI information, taking the central towns and villages in Devon to start
> with where the STEER name derives from, them branching out.
>
> I do realise that it will not be a few weeks work but a few years to get
> the site usable, but then all this information that is being contribute
> about the STEER name via e mails could be used buy us all as and when we
> need it in a format that is searchable.
> What do you think?
>
> Gaynor
>
>
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> 4AA, Berkshire, United Kingdom.
>
>
> From: [mailto:] On
> Behalf Of Jack Steer
> Sent: 18 April 2008 10:37
> To:
> Subject: Re: [STEER] STEER from Bovey Tracey to Essex
>
>
> Brian,
>
> You asked
>
> <Does anyone have a GEDcom file of all the Steer names being discussed
> in
> this list I could have a copy of? Or am I missing something that
> everyone
> else is aware of perhaps on a website?>
>
> I'm not aware of such a beast. My STEER birth/baptism indices now total
> some
> 10,000 individual entries and it does strike me that to have a gedcom
> file
> with that number of one line entries would not merit the time taken in
> typing the data. The problem with nineteenth century and earlier
> research is
> that it is all too easy to be led astray by finding similar or identical
>
> names that just happen to be recorded. There are a number of debates
> that
> surface on the list where assumptions are made that subsequently turn
> out to
> be erroneous.
>
> <I am finding it impossible to understand the relationships as written
> in
> these e-mails.>
>
> Rootsweb have long had a policy that prohibits the acceptance of
> attachments
> to emails posted to any list. They chose this path in order to reduce
> the
> risk of viruses and trojans infiltrating the system. The only way
> messages
> can be posted is by text.
>
> <I need a pictorial view as in Personal Ancestral File for example, it
> makes
> it much clearer.>
>
> Afraid that I do not have a solution to this difficulty.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Jack Steer
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brian Steer" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 1:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [STEER] STEER from Bovey Tracey to Essex
>
>
> We have a Joseph Steer b1813 in Bovey Tracey, just listed in our tree,
> but
> not connected to us, although we are aware of Steers in Modbury we are
> related to.
>
> Does anyone have a GEDcom file of all the Steer names being discussed in
> this list I could have a copy of? Or am I missing something that
> everyone
> else is aware of perhaps on a website?
>
> I am finding it impossible to understand the relationships as written in
> these e-mails. I need a pictorial view as in Personal Ancestral File for
> example, it makes it much clearer.
>
> Many Thanks,
>
> Brian Steer
>
> Home 01628 630848
> Mobile 07923 464205
> e-mail
> LinkedIn profile http://www.linkedin.com/in/briansteer
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [mailto:] On
> Behalf Of Mike Steer
> Sent: 16 April 2008 12:52
> To:
> Subject: Re: [STEER] STEER from Bovey Tracey to Essex
>
> Jack: Unusual though the names are, I have both Theophilus (b. 1864) and
> Hepsibah (b. 1856) in my Bovey Tracey tree as children of Joseph (b.
> 1831)
> and Susannah STEER, the Trinity House Lightkeeping family in Guernsey
> and
> later at Start Point then the Menai Light off North Wales. I'd certainly
> agree that Rohey Tragey looks like LDS for Bovey Tracey. I had a similar
> problem with my grandfather, hiding in Middlesex under Povey Racy in the
> 1881 census. The Essex group might well be related to us in some way,
> but I
> don't know how, Mike.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jack Steer" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:02 PM
> Subject: [STEER] STEER from Bovey Tracey to Essex
>
>
>>
>> I noticed Joseph Daniel STEER son of Joseph Theophilus STEER
> (deceased)
>> and Martha Sophia STEER of 13 Crescent Rd, Plaistow, Essex on the
>> Commonwealth War Graves Commission. My eyes lit up, as Theophilus is
> not a
>
>> common forename and was introduced into the South Milton herd (my
> family)
>> by marriage to a LEAMON. I think that I was wrong.
>>
>> As far as I can tell this family originated in Tendring district, that
>> part of Essex, which includes Ardleigh, Clacton, Harwich, Manningtree,
> St
>> Osyth and Thorpe.
>>
>> It seems likely that two STEER brothers Joseph Theophilus (birth
>> registered Tendring Q4 1863) and Josiah John (birth registered
> Tendring Q3
>
>> 1865) were married to two sisters in Q3 1895 in Whitechapel, London.
> The
>> sisters were Martha Sophia and Maria GOULD.
>>
>> Joseph Theophilus (death registered West Ham Q1 1914) and Martha
> Sophia
>> had at least one child Joseph Daniel STEER (birth registered West Ham
> Q2
>> 1897), who enlisted in the Machine Gun Corps (infantry) 123rd Company
> and
>> was killed on 17.9.1916 aged 19. His name appears on the Thiepval
>> Memorial, Somme, France Pier and Face 5 C and 12 C, so presumably his
> body
>
>> was never recovered.
>>
>> A quick look at the 1881 census has made me wonder quite where this
> family
>
>> originated or may be it is just chance, because in 1881 Joseph
> Theophilus
>> was an engineer's pattern maker (at works) aged 17 and born Harwich,
> Essex
>
>> was lodging with one Hepsibah STEER a governess aged 24 and born in
> Rohey
>> Tragey?, Devon. That could be LDS for Bovey Tracey.
>>
>> Is there anyone researching the STEER family in Essex? And what
> happened
>> to Hepsibah?
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Jack Steer
>> Banbury
>>
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