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Introduction

Ancestral Gen-Sites

Researching by Location

Researching by Surname

Gen Tool-Kit

Website Resources

Image Gallery

Contact Information

Somerset is a county in South West England.  The county town of Somerset is Taunton, which is in the south of the county.  The ceremonial county of Somerset borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the coast of the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the River Severn.  The traditional northern border of the county is the River Avon, but the administrative boundary has crept southwards, with the creation and expansion of the City of Bristol, and latterly the county of Avon and its successor Unitary Authorities in the north.

Somerset is a rural county of rolling hills such as the Mendip Hills, Quantock Hills and Exmoor National Park, and large flat expanses of land including the Somerset Levels. There is evidence of human occupation from Neolithic times, and subsequent settlement in the Roman and Saxon periods.  Later, the county played a significant part in the consolidation of power and rise of King Alfred the Great, the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion.

ancestral gen-sites

Map of the County

Family History Notes

Gen-Site Profiles

Map of the county

The Red Dot in the map designates the location of the seat of government for this county.   A Purple Dot shows the location of identified ancestral Gen-Site(s).

from the keyboard you can increase or decrease the zoom value in 10% increments.

To zoom , press  and the   button. To zoom , press  and the   button.  To restore the zoom to 100%, press  and the  button.

Family history notes

    James Abbott, our 9^th great-grandfather was born in Somerset Shire, about 1665.  He came to the American colonies from Somerset shire, England about 1690.

Gen-site profiles

Taunton

Taunton

LOCATION:   Country: United Kingdom;   State: England;   County: Somerset;  Coordinates/Map: 51.18, -3; 

Ordinance Map Grid Reference:

DESCRIPTION:  Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001.  It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset.

ANCESTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS GEN-SITE: 

INTERNET WEB LINK(S):   Taunton's official tourism website;   Taunton at the Open Directory Project

LOCATION:   Country: United Kingdom;   State: England;   County: Dorset;  Coordinates/Map:; 

Ordinance Map Grid Reference:

DESCRIPTION: 

ANCESTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS GEN-SITE: 

INTERNET WEB LINK(S):  

populated places

Gazetteer of Places

 in This County

Link to State-Wide Resources

Where in the World

are My Ancestors?

gazetteer

The list below will assist in your research regarding the matching of your ancestor’s birth, marriage, death dates and the place(s) within this locality at which these events may have occurred.

List of places in Somerset

Somerset Places Online

Directory of Cities & Towns in Somerset

Villages in Somerset

Somerset Towns and Parishes

Places and Parishes in Somerset

Churches of Somerset

Grade I listed buildings in Somerset

List of Places in the United Kingdom

List of Towns in England

The Districts of This County

1 South Somerset

2 Taunton Deane (Borough)

3 West Somerset

4 Sedgemoor

5 Mendip

6 Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary)

7 North Somerset (Unitary)

Find Physical Features Within This County

COUNTY TOWN

COUNTY

Coordinates
(links to map & photo sources)

OS grid reference

Taunton

Somerset

51.01° N 03.09° W

ST2324

Look-Up Coordinates and Grid Reference Numbers for Places in the United Kingdom

Where in the world

Resources which enhance our knowledge of the places inhabited by our ancestors are almost as important as their names. The LINK

to the right will take you to Maps, Gazetteers,   and other helpful  resources  that will assist you in discovering Ancestral Locations. 

surnames

Click on this link to find out more about each surname listed below as well as other surnames found within our  three  family  databases. 

This link will also lead you to surname resources at Rootsweb, and information about the world-wide distribution of a surname.

The following are surnames of persons, found within our databases, as having been either born, married or died at this location.  To find out more about each surname listed above click on the corresponding Link.

McVicker; Moreland; Pinnell; Scruggs and allied families

Abbott

Bozarth; Peiffer; Quigley; Rhubart and allied families

Dellinger; Knecht; Pfeffer; Silar and allied families

The world’s largest free genealogy search engine, Mocavo.com, provides genealogists access to the best free genealogy  content  on  the  web

including billions of names, dates and places worldwide. Mocavo.com seeks to index and make searchable all of the world’s free genealogy information.

Use this free genealogy site to help you get the best genealogy searches from Google™ by using your family tree, for your research. It will create a series of different searches  using tips or "tricks"

that will likely improve your results. The different searches will give you many different ways of using Google and the Internet to find ancestry information about this or any other Surname. 

Click on the LINK to the right to see more information about the World distribution of  any  surname.   You  can  get  greater

detail for any of the maps by clicking on the area, i.e state, county that you are interested in.

gen tool-kit

Our “Gen-Tool Kit” has been primarily designed for those researchers who may be traveling to this location to perform on-site studies of their family history, or to just visit some of the interesting historical sites located in the area.  It can be very satisfying to mix research with sightseeing at historical and scenic spots.  Such activity not only gives you an understanding of the land but a needed break from intense research sessions.  When visiting an ancestral county for genealogical research we’ve found that the three most important places to visit are the county courthouse; the county library; and the county historical and/or genealogical societies.  It is also good to plan ahead by contacting any site you intend visiting in order to ascertain where it is and when it will be open.  This is especially true with regard to historical and genealogical societies.  We hope that the following information will provide you with a better idea of what resources are available, within this county, to the family historian.

Cemeteries

County History

Libraries, Museums

& Archives

Maps and Gazetteers

 County Records

Societies

(History & Genealogical)

Cemeteries

·        Cemetries in Somerset, England, UK

·         Bath Jewish Burial Ground, Somerset, 1. England, UK

History

• Archive material collected by Geoffrey Berry, resident of Churchstanton, relating to the parish and surrounding area     
• Englishcombe, Portrait of a Very English Parish, including Haycombe, Inglesbatch, Kilkenny, Nailwell, Padleigh & Barrow Hamlet     
• Historic Landscape Survey of the Manor of Englishcombe - County of Avon, 1983     
• North Petherton Parish, Somerset in 'A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 6'     
• The North Petherton Website     
• Otterford History: Lime Burning, Water Mills, and Otterhead estate, created by men of rank and wealth following the break up of the Manor of Taunton Deane early in the 19th century     
• The Parish of Englishcombe: A History, by Jean Manco, 1995     
• A Short Guide to Englishcombe Parish Church, by C C Titchmarsh, 1933 Updated     
• South West: The historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucs, Somerset and Wilts     
• Victoria County History: Somerset. The local history of the historic county, organised by parish. 5 volumes   

Libaries, Museums, Archives

·        Archives – Somerset Shire, England

·         

Maps and Gazetteers

·        Maps – Somerset Shire, England

·        Geographical Names – Somerset Shire, England

·        Gazetteers – Somerset Shire, England

County Records

·        Methodist (Dunster Circuit) Baptisms 1803 - 1829     

·        Methodist (Dunster Circuit) Baptisms 1830 - 1850     

·        Frome: Burials at the Quaker Burial Ground 

·        Census

·        Research Guide to Somerset Diocese of Bath and Wells records     

·        Research Guide to Somerset Non-Conformist and Catholic records     

·        Stogumber Baptist Church Records of Births 1800 - 1836     

·        Transcribed parish register for Barrington, Bruton, Fivehead, Isle Abbotts, Kingsbury Episcopi, Pitney, Puckington, Shepton Beauchamp, Swell     

·        Fivehead Inquest Drowning & Obituary: The Langport and Somerton Herald, MALE Edward John 21 Jun 1930 Fivehead     

·        Huntspill War Memorial 

·        Frome Emigrants to Victoria, 1839-1854 

·        Marston Bigot: A survey of landholdings on the Marston Bigot estate, 1683   

·        Researching your Somerset house   

·        Research Guide to Somerset Quarter Sessions records 

·        Directories

·        Commonwealth Marriages 1653-1656, civil marriages in Staple Fitzpaine, Buckland St Mary, Bickenhall and Curland 

·        Fifehead: The Langport Herald 26 Jan 1856, Marriage Mr Henry RICHARDSON of Fifehead to Miss Camilla WHITCOMBE of Foxhound, Fifehead 

·        Research Guide to Somerset Marriage Licences 

·        Frome Old Soldiers: Other ranks born in Frome Hundred and discharged to pension 

·        Research Guide to Somerset Light Infantry collection

·        Parish Records

·        Taxation; Tax Records, Customs, Excise

·        Research Guide to Somerset Local Government records 

·        Alford, Somerset Transcriptions of 1904 Electoral Roll 

·        Frome Electoral Register, 1835-36 

·        North Barrow, Somerset Transcriptions of 1904 Electoral Roll

·        Rimpton, Somerset 1841 Census 

·        West Bradley, Somerset 1904 Electoral Roll 

·        Yarlington, Somerset 1904 Electoral Roll 

·        Wills, Probate, Testate and Intestate Records

Societies

·         S&DFHS: Somerset & Dorset Family History Society 

resources

This search engine may

provide you with additional

information to assist with

your research about this topic.

General Resources

Locality Specific Resources

FREE Records

and Databases

Our Genealogy Reference Library

General Resources

·        UK Geneaology – England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland

·        Linkpendium genealogy-uki

·        RootsWeb.com Message Boards – U.K. and Ireland

·        GENUKI: UK & Ireland Genealogy

·        British Isles GenWeb Project*

·        Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

·        Local Government Web Sites

·        International Genealogical Index (LDS)

·        List of places in the United Kingdom

·        Street Map UK

·        Ordnance Survey, Britain’s mapping agency

·       British History Online

·        Cyndi’s List - United Kingdom & Ireland Index

·        A vision of Britain (a library for local history)

·        UK Genealogy Archives of Family History

·        Directory of Cities and Towns in the UK

Locality Specific Resources

·        UK Genealogy - Dorset

·        RootsWeb.com Message Boards - Dorset

·        GENUKI - Dorset

·        British Isles GenWeb - Dorset

·        Local Government Web Sites - Dorset

·        International Genealogical Index - Dorset

·        Cyndi’s List - Dorset

·        A Vision of Britain - Dorset

·        UK Geneaology Archives - Dorset

·        Directory of Cities & Towns in the UK - Dorset

Free Records & Databases

All of the records and databases we’ve collected are FREE and can be accessed and searched online without having to pay for a subscription.   We have divided our collected into 14 record types as follows: Biographical; Birth; Cemetery; Census & City Directories; Church; Court; Death; Immigration & Naturalization; Land; Marriage; Military; Newspapers; Occupational; and Tax Records.    We try not to list any sites that have only a few records for the purpose of getting you to a website that will charge a fee to actually see the record beyond just a name.  

This Link will take you to our

collections of FREE Records.  

Genealogy Reference Library

The following Link will take you to our library of genealogy reference books.   Here you may find books about the history and records of this county and other places such as towns and churches.  The collection also contains research works about military units and personnel during America’s wars, in addition too resource texts about the ethnic and religious groups who may have settled in this locality.

This Link will take you to

our collections of reference books.  

Gallery

During our research we have collected images and photographs that are of general interest to a variety of localities.  Some of them are presented on this website because we believe they tend to provide the reader with additional information which may aid in the understanding of our ancestors past lives.

Taunton Castle, Taunton, Somerset, England

Use this LINK to see the picture

gallery  that pertains to this location.

Use the power of Google™ to find more interesting images about this topic. A Click on this button will link you to the Google Images Search page.   Enter  the

topic you are searching in the box and click “Search Images”. At the “Images” display page you will see the image, as well as the website to which it is linked.

Contact information

Email

Snail mail:

Fred
889 Dante Ct.
Mantua, NJ 08051

USA

Updated 01 July 11

Email

Pony Express:

Tom
6484 Riverstone Dr

Sooke, BC V9Z 0Y7

Canada