The John Bishop (1641) Fund started in 1997 with a handsome donation from Society Member John Bishop from Boston USA, in memory of his ancestor, also John, keeper of Taunton Castle in 1641.
One of the main ways the fund will be used is to help publish indexes of Somerset or Dorset folk from documents that otherwise may not be readily available. Some examples might include a particular workhouse or gaol; newspapers; trades or professions such as seamen, stone masons, pipemakers, brassworkers; shipping or harbour records; people murdered or executed; particular parish or church records; parish magazines; factory or mill records; plague victims, have we given you the idea yet?
Records of S&D folk contained in repositories overseas would be particularly helpful and in this we rely on overseas members suggesting records that may already have been indexed, perhaps in part, or may be suitable for an indexing project. Also, we know that several members maintain indexes of people or places they are interested in and we would ask them to consider whether this information could be made available to everyone.
The John Bishop Fund will not be used to pay researchers' time but would cover costs such as photocopying and postage and perhaps some aspects of travelling expenses.
The whole purpose of the John Bishop Fund is that it should facilitate our researches. The Society has already completed some major publishing projects such as the indexes of the 1851 and 1891 census. These have a very general appeal and are 'commercially' viable. In other words, the sales readily exceed the cost of production and indeed make a valuable contribution to the funds of the Society.
However, some of the proposals for the John Bishop Fund, interesting as they may be, probably would not even cover their costs of production, be it in print or fiche format. The Fund will enable us to produce material that would normally be viewed as not commercially viable. Such indexes could produce that elusive missing link, particularly for researchers who are unable to get to record repositories.
Three things have emerged since the Fund was set up:
 | Many of the ideas will require some more work; maybe proof reading, perhaps cross checking that the information is as complete as it can be, which would involve visiting the record repository. (These are not necessarily in Somerset & Dorset). Some need the compilation of an index. |
| We can use some more ideas. Have you made up any indexes which you could make available to more of the members? Is it that our International members have information about what has happened to emigrants after they left these native shores? Were there whole townships in, say the United States, predominantly made up of people from our area? Are there record deposits which could be indexed in the way that we have done over here? We know that some families migrated and then returned to this country a few years later. Some insights into their history would be useful. |
| We need volunteers to carry through any of the above roles and to bring projects to the stage of being ready for publication. This could be all sorts of things, perhaps as a proof reader, as a researcher, as a computer inputter and so on. |
Society Publications
Back to Home Page