MEMBERS were treated this month to a lively and entertaining talk given by genealogist Frank Townsend. Family Tree Tapping had very little to do with how to go about tracing your family history, but instead focused on the delights discovered during his many years of personal research.

Having begun his work on tracing his own family history in the 1970s (before the days of the internet) Frank had to go about his task the hard way, visiting churches around the country to examine public records, and graveyards to investigate the names inscribed on headstones. The research gave him great insight into how our ancestors lived, how they wrote and spelled (in the days before Samuel Johnson’s dictionary was published), how the parish took responsibility for the poor and needy, and then tried to get some of its money back!

Mr Townsend rounded off his talk with some of the inscriptions he has come across over the years, some comic, some sentimental and moving. We learnt of Hester who gave birth to sixteen children and at the same time found time to be a breeder of pugs! We heard about the dentist who was now filling his final cavity and of the spinster who was now giving to the worms what she gave to no man during her lifetime! Most moving, however, were the words engraved on the headstone of Susy Clemens, daughter of Mark Twain, who died aged 24. The grief and pain of her father were clear for all to see.

Anyone interested in researching their family history can attend a course in Malvern, run by Frank. You can learn in a day all that you need to know to get started, and have access to various websites in order to see which may be of most use to you. Details can be found on the Malvern Family History Society website.

GRAHAME PERCIVAL