Oxfordshire Family History Society

PUBLICATIONS: Members receive the Journal, The Oxfordshire Family Historian, published three times a year and the occasional Society publication or Journal Index. Current publications include: Oxfordshire Parish Registers and Bishops Transcripts; Index to Oxfordshire Hearth Tax 1665; Directory of Members' Interests; The Licensees of the Inns, Taverns and Beerhouses of Banbury, Oxfordshire. Book Sales and a full publications list is available from the Holford Centre. Many other publications appear on fiche including: Oxfordshire Parish Register Transcripts; Monumental Inscriptions; Oxford City Baptism Index, Electoral Rolls; Oxfordshire 1841 & 1851 Census Transcript; Return of Owners of Land for Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Gloucestershire; Name Index to 1861, 1871 & 1891 census for Oxfordshire; Oxfordshire Marriage Index. Some of these and some Parish Register transcripts are also available on CD.

MEETINGS are usually held at Exeter Hall, Kidlington, Oxford on the fourth Monday in the month for ten months of the year. Doors open at 7.00p.m. for members' browsing time. At 8.00p.m. there is a speaker who will talk on a subject related to family history. The early opening enables members to have a coffee, discus problems, share information, buy from the extensive book stall, borrow from the library compiled from other Family History Societies' journals and our many reference books. The Society's AGM is normally held in June and an Open Day in the Autumn.

NEW MEMBERS: Joining the Society is advantageous whenever you decide to join. The membership year runs from the 1st January except when joining after 1st October when membership includes the following year i.e. 15 months. On joining the Society, members receive a "New Members' Pack", which includes the current Journal, and are asked to fill in various forms giving information about themselves and their research, so that members can help each. There is a supplement of Members Interests in each Journal. Members' pedigrees are kept on file by the Society at the Holford Centre. A `link' service is offered, where limited, specific research is done by members for members.

As a member of this Society, your name and details of membership will be kept on computer. This is essential for administration purposes. Unfortunately the Society is no longer able to claim back Income Tax through the Gift Aid Scheme, due to the Society having to register for V.A.T. OXFORDSHIRE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY was founded in 1976 to encourage and promote the study of Family History. The Society caters for those with Oxfordshire ancestry and those who live locally but with ancestors from elsewhere. The Society is a Registered Charity, No. 275891, and a member of the Federation of Family History Societies. The main aims of the Society are to foster interest in Family History, and aid the progress of beginners; to provide, through publications and meetings, a means for exchanging news and information; to widen knowledge of the variety of genealogically useful records; to help preserve the most commonly used records by transcription, indexing and publication; to record fast disappearing monumental inscriptions.

We offer to the general public a Family History Advisory Service, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies and we have a Research Centre in the Holford Centre at Stanton St. John.

The Society has many and varied indexes, most of which are computer orientated (offers for further help are always welcome). These include the Oxfordshire 1841 & 1851 Census Index & Transcript; 1861, 1871 & 1891 Census Indexes; Oxfordshire and North Berks Marriage Index 1538-1837; Monumental Inscription Master Index; City of Oxford Baptismal Index 1800-1837. Searches of these indexes can be made for a small fee. The Society is also currently indexing the Oxfordshire War Memorials and preparing to index Oxfordshire Baptisms and Burials. Much of the Society's work has been published in book form and/or as fiche. We are now starting to publish on CD. Our transcripts of Parish Registers, on open access at the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies, Westgate, Oxford, Oxfordshire Record Office and many other places, are available on fiche. The Society also holds a Strays Index.

PLEASE SEND A STAMPED ADDRESSED ENVELOPE OR TWO INTERNATIONAL REPLY COUPONS when writing to a member of the Society if a reply is anticipated. Please remember that the officers of the Society are all unpaid enthusiasts. Time spent on Society affairs and your enquiries is at the expense of their own research or other useful projects.