Managing Surname Interests
This page is intended to assist members of the Society to decide if they want their interests put online and, if so, how to submit and manage them. The format is in a series of questions and answers relating to interests. If a member has a question about Members' Interests which is not covered here, please contact the Membership Secretary.
Are my interests recorded? By being online and reading this, just go to the Interests Search page and enter you membership number (remember to select Member Number as the category) to see if you have any interests submitted and what they are.
How do I submit my interests by Email? If you are a current member of the Society you can have your interests published in the quarterly Journal and online. You can submit your interests by email. To help in processing your email please use the guidance below:
Email Header Include a title 'Members' Interests Submission' followed by Your membership number, and one of the following NEW, ADDITION or REPLACEMENT e.g. Members' Interests Submission Member Number 9238 ADDITION
NEW - means you have not submitted surname interests before. If you have then your existing interest will be deleted
ADDITION - means that the interests that you are submitting are to be added to your existing interests.
REPLACEMENT - means that you want your previous interests deleted and replaced with the ones currently being submitted. If you want only part of your interests replaced, perhaps as a result in developments in your research, make it clear which entries should be deleted.
Email Body Include your personal details and then your surname interests. Your personal details are required so that we can check them against our Members' database and ensure we have current information.
Membership number
Title, Given Name and Surname
Full postal address, including post/zip code
Email address (please provide this as you may not be sending the information from your own computer)
For each interest, which must be on separate lines, include: Your Membership number, SURNAME interest, Location, Chapman County Code, Period. Each element must be separated by a comma, to assist data entry, e.g. 9238, Chilton, Ogbourne St Andrew, WIL, 18C
All submissions will be stored on a computer database. Submissions which do not conform to the above format will not be included.
How do I submit my interests by post? Download and complete the Members' Interests form. Send it to the address shown on the form.
How do I have my interests removed from the Index? Contact the Members' Interests Secretary and ask for your interests to be removed from the index. When you originally submitted your interests they would have been published in the Society's journal. Removal is not just from this on-line index, but also from the database maintained by the Members' Interests Secretary.
The changes I requested are not reflected in the Index. Why is that? Any changes you request will be made to the database maintained by the Members' Interests Secretary. The on-line Index will not reflect the changes until the List is updated.
Can any information about me be taken from the on-line Index? No. There is no information about any member on this website, apart from the Membership Number shown with each Surname entry.
What information is passed to enquirers? The same information as appears in the quarterly journal. The Members' Interests Secretary will provide your name, postal and email addresses, as supplied by you.
How do I contact the Members' Interests Secretary by post? Write to
Members' Interests Secretary
Wiltshire Family History Society
Unit 3
Bath Road Business Centre
Devizes
SN10 1XA
Include with your letter 3 second class UK stamps or 2 International Reply Coupons.
How should I format my interests for submission?
Location: Worldwide interests are included. No checking is done on any location outside Wiltshire. For locations within Wiltshire, a check will be made to ensure the location exists and is spelt correctly. Do not use expressions such as 'Calne area'. Does that include Derry Hill? How would anyone know? What does 'North Swindon' include? You might know what you mean by 'Wylie valley' but would anyone else? Try to keep to parish or place names that you would expect to find on a map.
County/Country: For locations within the United Kingdom and Ireland use the Chapman County Codes. A full list can be found in the Society's Journal. For all other locations insert the appropriate country code. If you are not sure of the code include the full name and the correct code will be entered.
Period: From these examples you should be able to decide how you want to reflect your period of interest.
>16c - after the 16th century. i.e. later than 1600.
e18c - early 18th century. i.e. 1700 to around 1730.
16c+ - The 16th century and later. i.e. after 1500.
m19c Earlier than mid-19th century. i.e. before 1840ish
l18c - late 18th century. Although the letter l looks like the number one the context should make the meaning clear. In this example, we haven't reached the one hundred and eighteenth century yet!
18-19c - any time in the 18th and 19th centuries. i.e. 1700-1899.
I have changed my postal or email address. Who do I tell? It is important for the Society to have your current postal and email addresses. If either or both change then contact the Membership Secretary, making sure you quote your membership number.