North West Kent Family History Society Hub

Have you ever purchased a certificate only to discover it is not of your family and does not add to your family tree? Members who have certificates that they don't want have donated them to the Library. These certificates are on the Library open shelves under the IDLocation reference BGR0023 in three volumes. We have listed all these certifica...

The Strays' Index was an inititive by the FFHS back in the pre-2000 years. NWKFHS slips have sat in our library unused since Audrey Rainer stopped being the Strays Co-ordinator. When we were clearing out the cupboards a few months ago the strays were unearthed and it was decided that the slips should be indexed into a digital database. Strays are r...

Do you want to know what is in the Society library? You can go to the Society Library page and there is a button to take you to the Master Catalogue that has been updated on 9th August 2022. There is also a page that gives all the resources in the library, not only the Master Catalogue but also:- Stray Birth Certificates Stray Marriage Certificates...

In the June 2022 Journal page 61 is  the 'Synopsis of the Annual Report 2021 by Chairman Victor Nutt. His full report from the Society Committee is attached below. This reprt was prepared by the Trustees and approved at their Committee meeting. This is referred to in the AGM Agenda and Voting papers and shows how active the society i...

Please note the workshop starts at 2.30 pm (14.30 hrs) and NOT at 10.30 am. Sorry for the misunderstanding. To book a place in this workshop contact workshop.booking@nwkfhs.org.uk. If you cannot attend this workshop but would like it re-run please contact the workshop coordinator to ask if it can be run on another day at perhaps another time. All w...

You will know by now that tonight we had a problem with members signing onto the talk. The problem appears to be a change and update by Zoom a couple of days ago. It now appears that unless you have the FREE 'Basic' licence or better on your computer you will have problems joining the meeting whether you use the link or you use the ID and passcode....

Bring your research talents and know how to our 'People' and 'Place' Workshop on the 3rd August 2022. Ray Fordham left a number of documents and databases to the Society that he had rescued from the Royal Arsenal Woolwich when it closed. Among the files are WW2 lists of names without source or exact date, but they give addresses within the Arsenal ...

 Ray Fordham worked at the RAW when it closed and among the documents and photographs that were being thrown away he saved some of those that related to local history and family history. He had over his retirement been recording the details into a number of databases, some of which are already on our web site. Now the Society has been given th...

The Federation have issued the latest Really Useful Buletin full of Really Useful sources and advice. Robin McConnell gives us 'Tracing your family history with the whole family' Shropshire FHS explain the advantages of Zoom and how it changed their Society. The Beresford (ONS) Family Society gathering held in May 2022. Dorset FHS follows NWKFHS an...

The 14th of July newsletter for Sevenoaks meeting is now available on the website

When researching family histories, we often come across addresses that our ancestors lived in. If you are anything like me, you are sure to have typed the address into Google Maps to see what the dwelling looks like today and whether it could possibly be the same one. Let's try that now with an address I looked up recently. Type this website addres...

At the recent 'Breaking down brick walls' workshop a member said that she thought you had to submit a research problem to attend. Not so.The workshops are designed to explain sources and how you can organise your research to help find that elusive ancestor. Other members' 'brickwalls' can be of help to other family historians as the think...

New workshop video added breaking down brickwalls Example 5 Alexander Duff Calico printer 

New workshop video added  Example 6 "My Incredible Hulkes Mystery"

Catching up with Family Search website Sharon Hintze 

Emma Smith has created an art installation at the Brickworks Museum, Swanwick, Hampshire to remember all those people that were employed in the brickmaking industry. On the 31st May the mayor of Fareham opened the exhibition to the public. The installation consists of thousands of brickettes each made by hand by Emma with the initials of a person t...

In 2016 this blog was written but again cropped up recently when discussing Eynsford Viaduct. Its amazing what areas family historians venture when ancestor hunting. One of our members asked about the temporary camps set up to house the navvies working on the railway in the Sevenoaks area. The answer to the query is given in 'Sevenoaks, an his...

If you have been waiting for the update to the names indexes then today is your day. We are still recovering these indexes but the latest introduction notes and surname index have been added in the MOA (members only area) Enjoy the work of our 1990s Census team. 

The Federation's Bulletine available to all family historians that subscribers see https://www.familyhistoryfederation.com/. The June edition contains an article'The Great Storm of 1703' by Wayne Shepherd. Our area of South East London and North West Kent was damaged. Daniel Defoe mentions that part of the wall to Greenwich Park having been blown d...

During the recent Society Library cataloguing exercise we have found an old Strays slip index (2002). We are trying to get it digitalized for the use of members. We anticipate it may contain over 7000 entries when completed. WHAT IS A STRAY? A stray is a recorded event in which a person is described in the record as being from, or connected with, a...