We're pleased to host another guest post by author and FreeREG transcriber Helen Barrell, who will feature on BBC One's Murder, Mystery and My Family  this Wednesday (3rd April) at 09.15am. 

Here, Helen describes the usefulness of parish registers in researching the subject of her books, and the case of Sarah Chesham, who she believes suffered an unfair outcome in her trial.

The cover of Helen's book: Poison Panic.

Some years ago, I was researching a branch of my family who lived in Acton in Suffolk. I discovered a great-several times uncle called Mordecai Simpson who, it turned out, had been drawn into an arsenic poisoning which led to the hanging of a 17-year-old.

This was the rather sad case of Catherine Foster, who was convicted of murdering her husband. The crime only came to light when Mordecai, who lived next door to Catherine, noticed his chickens dying. It turned out they’d eaten leftovers from the arsenic-laced dumpling that Catherine had fed to her husband. She was hanged in 1847.

While transcribing the parish registers for Wix in Essex, I stumbled over another arsenic case – when Mary May was found guilty of poisoning her half-brother Spratty Watts (also known as William Constable). Mary was hanged in 1848, and the more I looked, the more cases of arsenic poisonings I found cropping up in the newspapers around that time.

And one of the other cases was that of Sarah Chesham, who stood trial no less than three times for poisoning in 1847 and once again in 1851. Just after that final trial, when Sarah was condemned to death, an act was passed which restricted the sale of arsenic. Up until then, it was as easy to buy as an any innocent grocery, but after the act was passed, arsenic could only be purchased if the customer signed or marked the poisons register. In later years, many other poisons were added to the restricted list, including strychnine and cyanide. If you’re an avid reader of Golden Age crime fiction, you’ll have come across poisons registers in murder mysteries.

But these stories are no fictions – real people died of arsenic poisonings, and real people were hanged in front of crowds of thousands of people. I was curious about the impact of the cases on the people involves and their communities and so set about researching them in detail. In 2016, Poison Panic, my book about the cluster of poisonings in Essex was published, and in 2017, Fatal Evidence, the biography of Alfred Swaine Taylor – the toxicologist who worked on nearly all the cases in Poison Panic, as well as famous nineteenth-century trials like that of William Palmer – came out.

Alfred Swaine Taylor giving evidence at an inquest

Last year I was contacted by the makers of BBC1’s award-winning series Murder, Mystery and My Family. Sarah Chesham was to be the subject of one of the episodes, and they asked me for my help.

I was really glad to be involved as I’m not convinced that Sarah Chesham had a fair trial in 1851. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s what the law would define as an “unfair trial”, because as things were in 1851, the judge presiding over the case and who sentenced her to death after she was convicted of attempted murder, had not technically done anything wrong. It’s just that morally it doesn’t seem right as the Offences Against the Person Act, under which she was tried, doesn’t include execution as a possible sentence – life imprisonment or transportation for life are the stiffest sentences possible. However, judges were allowed to sentence as they saw fit, and Campbell, the judge, decided that Sarah was guilty of the charges she’d been acquitted of in 1847 as well. 

Sarah had no defence counsel, and the press had been printing lurid nonsense about her too – with no money of her own, no solicitor to raise a petition, and with no Appeal Court (which wouldn’t exist until 1875) to challenge Campbell’s sentence, Sarah Chesham was hanged.

Parish registers were incredibly useful for my research – not only did they inspire me in the first place to find out more about the arsenic poisonings afoot at the time, but they also helped me to reconstruct the families of those involved. In the case of Mary May, the registers were useful for finding out if the newspapers were correct when they claimed she’d had sixteen children and murdered them all – it will come as little surprise to learn that this wasn’t true at all. Over-the-top gossip surrounding the arsenic poisonings cases made their way into newspapers unchecked and were repeated and exaggerated as the stories spread. 

Parish registers offer us an insight into ordinary people’s lives – and when those people become part of extraordinary events, those registers can give us the facts that overblown, tub-thumping newspaper editorial of the past distorts. And so it’s fitting we filmed a scene in Clavering’s churchyard, where the very vicar who recorded Sarah Chesham’s family in his parish’s registers once stood.

Helen Barrell, FreeREG Transcriber and Author of Poison Panic in Clavering, Essex.

The second series of Murder, Mystery and My Family is being broadcast on BBC1 from 25th March to 5th April. The episode about Sarah Chesham airs on Wednesday 3rd April.

Helen Barrell’s books Poison Panic and Fatal Evidence are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops.

Transcriptions for Acton, Clavering and Wix can be found on FreeREG.

Here, FreeREG volunteer Ian Slater gives some background to a notable marriage record he transcribed; that of American composer Arthur H. Bird.

Arthur Homer Bird was an American composer, for many years resident in Germany. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he studied in Europe and spent a year at Weimar with Franz Liszt. He composed a symphony, Karnevalszene; three orchestral suites; some works for wind instruments alone; some music for the ballet; a comic opera; and some chamber music. Bird died in Berlin in 1923. 
(credit - https://musopen.org/composer/arthur-h-bird/)

A report in a Brighton newspaper from 1889 regarding a local lecture of 19th century composers states "Probably very few English musicians know anything of the American composers, Arthur Bird and E.A. MacDowell, who both received great praise". I am sure that the same can be said today nearly 130 years later. Arthur Homer Bird was born July 23, 1856 in Watertown, Mass. U.S.A. to Horace Bird (a well-known musician in the neighbourhood of Boston, where his singing schools were very popular) and Elizabeth (nee Homer). The 1860 and 1870 US Censuses show him at home with his parents and siblings(8 in 1860 and 5 siblings in 1870). His passport application in October 1874 lists Arthur as aged 18 years, 5 feet 10 ins, dark hair with light hazel eyes.

In 1881 Arthur H Bird appears on the Canada Census of 1881 - an Organist from the U.S. aged 30 years residing in Ward no 2 in Halifax City, Nova Scotia.

According to an emergency passport application dated September 1920, Arthur resided in Halifax, Nova Scotia from 1878 to 1888, in England from 1888 to 1890 and Germany from 1890 to present (1920). During this time he confirmed that he was in Italy and three times in the US. His purpose for residing in Germany was "studying art and music on behalf of Etude Musical paper (based in Philadelphia) and Musical America (of Chicago)”.

Our interest at FreeREG concerns those few years in England. For no obvious reason the parish church in Peterborough was chosen as the location for his marriage on 29 February 1888 to Wilhelmina Drenker - a 34 year old widow. Interestingly Arthur's 1920 passport application at the American Commission Berlin stated that his wife was born in Hanover on 05 March 1858, just thirty years before their marriage.

Another interesting fact is that in July 1894, Arthur applied for US passports for himself, wife Wilhelmine and 2 minor children, both born in Berlin, Marguerite (born 16 November 1875, some 12 years before this marriage) and Grace (born 14 June 1889, 15 months after the marriage).

There was another passport application dated 9th December 1914 at the American Embassy in Berlin, Germany for Arthur (aged 58 years) and his wife Wilhelmine. He confirms that he left the US on 05 October 1911 and that he lives in Berlin - Dahlem following the occupation of Musician. He states that his previous US passport was issued on 18 July 1894. He adds that he is 5 feet 10 inches and now has grey hair with a white moustache. A section on this application confirms that Arthur intends "to return to the United States within indefinite five months for the purpose of protection and identification". An accompanying letter with the application says that Arthur requires the passport for "residing in Germany and returning to the U.S. by whichever route available".

Arthur returned to the US on three occasions - 1899, 1909 and 1913 and was still in contact with his siblings as in March 1922 he had 3 sisters living in Upland Road, Cambridge, Mass. He was claiming that he was suffering financially. His application to the American Consular Service in Berlin states "I am the sole representative in Germany of the Musical Leader and the Philadelphia Etude both American Musical Magazines. Since the Department authorized the issuance of a certificate of identity for my continued residence in Germany in June 1920, I have not been able to return to the United States because of financial circumstances. However, the Musical Leader has proposed my coming to America this summer, if they will pay my expenses over, I will of course avail myself of the first opportunity to return. I have not at the present time, sufficient money to pay for a Departmental passport and I therefore, respectfully request that a certificate of registration be granted me".

Arthur died the following year in Berlin.

... and how this affects researchers and volunteers

The changes we're making at the moment will take FreeCEN into the future. We are no longer a lookup service, which is how we started. We are becoming a dynamic source of data for both the amateur and the professional. 

In this post we will explain the issues driving the changes, and how they will affect you. It's broken down into the following sections:

Changes for Researchers

Changes for Volunteers

• Transcribers
• Proofreaders(formerly 'Checkers')
• Validators
• Coordinators

Future Developments (for Researchers)

Changes for Researchers

A growing number of users are accessing the web through phones and tablets, rather than laptops and larger computers - they expect an interface that looks good and works well on a small screen. We think we are ‘almost there’ on this.

We also want to make the website more accessible. This work is just beginning.

We want to tackle some issues in searching, including:

• Place: The boundaries used by the census are not easy to visualise, often cross historic boundaries (e.g. including parts of two counties) and change name and shape - so even if you know the village or part of a town your ancestor might have resided in, choosing which census district to filter by is not easy, particularly for those unfamiliar with the geography of the 19th century.
• Names: The names used by people to record their place of birth are faithfully transcribed. But this also makes searching difficult, plus the person entering the data might know that their home village was in one county when they were born, and another at the time of the census, and chosen either. So we are looking into more choice of how you search, including a map-based search.
• Too much choice: It can be difficult to know which of the many fields you should fill in, in order to be able to identify the person you are seeking, but not rule them out due to something not being recorded quite as you might have expected (we are looking into Artificial Intelligence to solve this one for you).

We also want to improve the quality of the data we transcribe - in the past, we have had to use abbreviations and compress two fields into one, in order to keep within the spreadsheet restrictions of 20 years ago. We're moving to a flexible spreadsheet (CSV) system which will mean transcribers can type what they see everywhere.

Changes for Volunteers

Volunteers may think "I am happy with what I am doing now." That's fine, you can keep doing what you are doing and we will continue to appreciate your work. It is very valuable. Alternatively, you can come along for the ride. You will find it is going to be a very exciting one!

Transcribers

You will have an option of either transcribing onto a spreadsheet as you have been doing, or transcribing online. The spreadsheet will look and feel very similar to the one you are using now, but there will be some changes.

Columns in the spreadsheet become fields in the FreeCEN database. As the fields in the database have become more flexible we can be more flexible in what you enter on your spreadsheet. For instance, transcribers put a lot of effort into making the Occupation fit the Occupation column. That will no longer be the case. You will be able to enter what you see without worrying about the length and some columns can be amended. Column H in the existing spreadsheet, for instance, contains details of unoccupied houses, people visiting away, buildings in progress etc. but it is also used for the query flag. We are looking at moving the query flag into its own column. 

In the online version, you will be entering data directly into a database. You will, therefore, see field boxes on your screen instead of columns. Instead of your coordinator sending you images, via Dropbox, for instance, the image will be displayed on your screen. When you have transcribed all the rows on an image you then move on to the next image. Each field in the online database will exactly correspond to a column in the spreadsheet.

The online version will also capture the number attached to the image. This will allow FreeCEN the ability to link the image to the transcription and display the images on-screen for the researcher, much the same as commercial sites do now. We still need to work out how we are going to add this information to the almost 36 million records already online (as of November 2018) so the displaying of images is something for the future. Nevertheless, we can start to collect that information with the online version.

One difference between the spreadsheet and the online database is that a transcriber can stop and start wherever they wish. The online version is displayed one page at a time so transcription has to stop at the end of each page, and not in the middle of a page. Another difference is that transcribers can share a census piece. The next available page is displayed to each transcriber (not the same page). Once a page is transcribed it will not be displayed to anybody else.

So, whether you choose to keep transcribing on a spreadsheet or to transcribe online, the changes should make transcription easier.

When will all this happen?

The first test piece was transcribed in August 2018 and has been proofread and validated. We are creating a detailed audit trail for this piece so that the developers can refine the system.

There is a test piece available online if you wish to have a go. This is an 1871 Somerset piece that has already been published online. It has been made available for multiple people to transcribe, a page at a time. Once it has been completed we will perform a quality check to compare the shared transcription with the published version. We would like to know whether our quality drops using this method. You do not need to be a Somerset volunteer to work on this; anybody can give it a go. If you do give it a go, please give us feedback. That way we can continue to improve. 

You can access it at https://csindexing.com/projectinformation.php?p=358 (link opens in a new tab). This version is a prototype version and therefore is not very pretty. Nevertheless, we do need to know of any problems transcribers may experience with it.

Proofreaders

You will be using new software for the proofreading process. (No, we no longer have checkers - the transcribers' work is being proofread. Transcribers are not being checked on!). 

Some proofreaders will remember the old WinCC software, used before we moved to proofreading spreadsheets. WinCC became incompatible with modern operating systems as it is badly in need of an upgrade. It certainly is not compatible with the new database format. 

This upgrade will happen in conjunction with the introduction of the online transcription system. Once the transcription trial is finalised we will know the design of the proofreading software. We will also be able to make the decision whether this will be an online or offline process, or whether the proofreader will have the choice. 

The trial transcription has been converted to a spreadsheet and the Proofreader is using a spreadsheet to proofread.

Validators

You will definitely be using new software. Neither FCTools nor ValdRev is compatible with the new database format. The validation process will not vary a great deal. The biggest change is that a map reference will be automatically attached to every Place of Birth. This will affect the way that the Validator manages the Validator’s Choice Place of Birth where the original entry cannot be found. The development of the map location system is in progress (as of November 2018). Once again we are not sure whether Validation will be online or offline, or whether there will be a choice.

Coordinators

Coordinators have already seen changes in registration of new volunteers. This will continue but you will have two methods of issuing transcription work: by sending images as you do at the moment, and by giving access to online images. The Coordinator will upload the online images to be transcribed from their master copies. The online software will record who has worked on these images, so the Coordinator will only need to keep track of who is working on the spreadsheet images. 

Coordinators will also be able to upload their own completed data to the database. You used to be able to do this but during the changeover to FreeCEN2 this function was centralised to give more control. Uploading will be devolved back to the Coordinators in the foreseeable future.

Future developments (for Researchers)

We're about to give each record (household) a permanent URL. To do this, we recently made the “FreeCEN2 website” available at www.freecen.og.uk, and the existing website freecen1.freecen.org.uk. The old FreeCEN will be phased out in the future. We intend to develop new ways to search the data. 

The addition of map references is one way of doing this, for example. Instead of having to know the county border in the year being researched, (or in the birth year of the person being looked for) a place will be able to be chosen. This place has a map reference. The search can then be done around that map reference. This would be transparent to the end user. 

An example would be a researcher in the future looking for me. I was born in Bristol, census county GLS. However, I was brought up 7 miles away in Somerset (Census county SOM). Whenever I fill in a form I show my Place of Birth as Bristol (that was where the hospital was!). A future researcher would be frustrated searching the Bristol 1951 Census. I am not there. I am in a different county. However, a search of 10 miles around the map reference would discover my entry. A much better result for the researcher and for FreeCEN.

We tend to think of a researcher as somebody building their family tree. However, there are other types of researchers out there. A university student doing a PhD may need to identify the demographics of a specific geographical area in a specific timeframe. Because FreeCEN is an Open Data platform we can provide a data dump of that geographic area for the student to use. Once again this is a win-win for both the student and FreeCEN.

The FreeBMD website will be undergoing a revamp over the next few months. The new website, which will run alongside the current one, will be in line with the design used for sister projects FreeCEN and FreeREG.

We want to make sure that it continues to provide the service that family history researchers know and love, whilst possibly incorporating new features that will improve your experience.

We've created a survey for you to let us know how we can best achieve these goals. Click the button below to tell us how and why you use FreeBMD, and what, if any, improvements you would like to see.