More UK news!
Yesterday we launched another UK project for keying, Dorset, England, Vagrant Passes, 1739-1791. This project, as do most of the others, fascinates me as I learn a little more about history. I did a little research to find out more about vagrant passes and it was so interesting how the less fortunate were seen almost as criminals. Since we are also keying the London, England, Poor Law Removal and Settlement Records, I wondered what the difference between a vagrant pass and a removal was. Here is what I found.
When a person was ordered to be removed the Parish that ordered the removal was responsible for the costs incurred while they travelled to their new destination, whereas when a person had a vagrant pass as they passed through a Parish they could ask for help from that Parish. It is interesting to compare the laws of the past to the laws of today.
And we have also released two UK projects live to the site. Yay! Both Kent, England, Tyler Index to Wills, 1460-1882 and Kent, England, Tyler Index to Parish Registers, 1538-1874 are available for searching. Thank you to everyone who contributed to these projects!
We appreciate the efforts of each contributor – without you we wouldn’t have 80+ databases with freely searchable indexes and dozens more completed that will soon be available. Give yourselves a pat on the back! For a complete list of the databases keyed through the World Archives Project that are live on Ancestry visit the online dashboard.
The historic details we can discover while keying old documents is fascinating. Please continue to post them.
For instance, while keying the Delaware Land Records, I ran across a deed record from 1862 in which a slaveowner freed his slave for which he held a deed.
Another interesting tidbit I discovered while keying US Postmaster Appointments: The appointment of US Postmasters continued unabated in Southern states during the period of the Civil War. One of the Maryland Postmasters I ran across was John Sarratt, son of Mary Sarratt, who was convicted of conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln and was the first woman executed by the Federal Government of the United States.
Keep the historic discoveries coming!