I am reproducing the text of the ninth newsletter here which will be the last in this form but will continue to write blog posts if anything interesting comes to light. Links to news items or other websites will be posted on the Rigmaiden Facebook page.
Ninth
newsletter of the Rigmaiden One-Name Study Group
1. I have
decided that this will be the last Rigmaiden One Name Study newsletter as I
feel that I have taken it as far as I can and will be concentrating on the
completion of a book on the subject in the coming months. I hope that you have
found the newsletters interesting and that maybe they have answered questions
for some of you or encouraged some to take up your own researches.
I will continue with the blog at http://rigmaidens.blogspot.co.uk/ and the
Facebook group which is called the Rigmaiden Family History Group, for the time
being.
Unfortunately, at the time of writing, there has not been anyone
interested enough in the Rigmaiden family to take the FamilyFinder DNA test
though I do understand that some may have chosen the Ancestry DNA route. If
anyone wants to transfer their results to the FamilyFinder website from
Ancestry I believe that this option is available. The cost of the Ancestry DNA
test which is an autosomal one is £79 plus postage but they do offer special
prices every now and again.
I have the sad news to relate that David Hedges, one of my
earliest and most enthusiastic Rigmaiden descendants in the United Kingdom
passed away last March. He was able to tell me many stories of the family of
Edward Henley Rigmaiden and his children, most of whom were daughters, from
direct recollection and experience. I must thank Nora, his widow, for taking
the trouble to write to me to let me know.
As I move forward in putting the research into some sort of
form I will be sending the primary source documents to the Society of
Genealogists Library in London who keep a surname index collection relating to
specific family studies. There is
already a box for the Rigmaiden family but when I last enquired there weren’t
many documents in the box. My contributions will include civil registration
certificates, wills, parish register extracts and so on.
Anyone who may be interested in researching a particular branch
or aspect of the family may find something of interest there and, of course,
the Society of Genealogists Library is the first port of call for
geneaologists.
Lastly, I would like to thank all correspondents in this
country and abroad who have contributed their own recollections and knowledge
to this project and hope that it has inspired others to take up a One-Name
Study, maybe their own family name, one that appears somewhere in their family
tree or maybe a name that they have an interest in. The Rigmaiden profile which
appears on the Guild of One-Name Studies website will remain. Many of us have
at least one unusual surname in our family trees that may have piqued our
curiosity and many of us may have more than one.
Obviously, it is not recommended to study a common surname
particularly if you are working alone but some of the less unusual names have
taken on by teams of people, looking at particular aspects. Sadly, the
Rigmaiden family does not have any living descendants in the UK anymore but the
name is more prevalent in the US.
The Guild of One-Name Studies is an excellent society to join
and will give lots of help for those starting out. They offer local meetings,
annual conferences, national seminars, a journal and a very helpful website.
For those who are more interested in local studies I
understand that One-Place Studies are also possible projects which may involve
a study of the village or town where you live or a village connected with your
family.
Best wishes and Happy Christmas!
Julie Parker
