Is there a Methodist in your family?

• Buy "A Methodist In The Family?" online here

The family history show - Who Do You ThinkYou Are? - is returning to London with its annual liveevent and the Methodist Heritage team will be there.

The team will be selling a new genealogical guide at theLondon Olympia event on 20-22 February. "A Methodist in theFamily?" answers the top ten most frequently asked Methodist familyhistory questions and translates the jargon of Methodism. Itsauthor is Philip Thornborow, the liaison officer for MethodistArchives and advisor on archiving to the Methodist Council.

"People seem to have an insatiable desire to learn abouttheir ancestors and their daily lives," Philip said. "My book aimsto help people find their way around the Methodist sources thatwill answer their questions. It's the first guide to cover thegreat wealth of resources now available via the internet, which hastransformed family history. 

"I try to explain how to resolve the problems caused tofamily historians by Methodists disappearing from parish recordsand by our ministers moving around the country at very frequentintervals. Like all the other activities of Methodist Heritage, thebook is also a celebration of Methodist life. In writing this guideI've been constantly reminded why Methodism is for me. I hope thatit will help its readers understand why Methodism was for theirancestors."

A recently launched warmemorial collection is now available on the My MethodistHeritage website, and digital versions of  key Methodist history research books, such as the "Who's Who inMethodism," can be viewed on the MethodistHeritage website.

MethodistHeritage officer Jo Hibbard will be at the Who Do You ThinkYou Are? event selling copies of Philip Thornborow's guidepriced at the special show rate of £4.00. "Finding family recordsfor Methodists can be hard and, of course, visitors to the showwant to know why," said Jo. "The questions I get asked often leadon to discussions about a person's personal faith positiontoday." 

Last year, the MethodistHeritage team launched three community archives whichallow people to share their Methodist stories online. Hundreds ofpages have since been added to the archive thanks to visits frompeople all over the world. 

Notes: 

The three community archives launched last yearare:
www.mymethodisthistory.org.uk
www.myprimitivemethodists.org.uk 
www.mywesleyanmethodists.org.uk 

To download images of a Methodist in the Familysee  here and  here

Buy a "Methodist in the Family?" online here