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Last updated: 2 November, 2008

Barnard Family of Beccles, Stockport, &
Manchester, & Associated Families
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3 Nov - I made a mistake below in the death year for Michael Fitzgerald. It should have been 1860 not 1960 of course! It is now corrected. As the blog was not being used I have now eliminated it.

Fitzgerald Branch - In the last few months I have finally discovered the Fitzgerald family on both the census of 1861 and 1871. This led me to the discovery that my great grandfather Michael Fitzgerald died on 1 April, 1860, and his widow Catherine and her five children were living in Manchester at that time in the London Road area. Surprisingly, at least to me was the fact that the youngest, Mary - my great aunt - was said to have been born in Manchester unlike the rest of her family who were born in Ireland, and I have now initiated a search for her baptism. If it is found it might just give the maiden name of Catherine which I do not know at present. If I can find that it would be a great help in researching in Ireland.

Barnard Family - I have recently been going through the registers of the Huguenot churches in England, and a number of possible places where the family lived in England have been found. If I come up with any definite discoveries, I will of course let everyone know.

There are presently nine past newsletters which were distributed to known family members over the past few years detailing research progress and general family news. Additional past newsletters will be added as time permits. Research is continuing on our Barnard branch.

Who Am I ?

My name is Alan Barnard and I was born and raised in Manchester, England. I started researching our Barnard Family in 1971 following the death of my parents who both died in 1970. Fortunately as a child I had always been interested in my parents tales about their respective families, and when my parents visited our home in British Columbia in 1968, I remembered to draw a rough family tree with whatever details they could remember about their parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Although their recall was not perfect, it gave me a start on finding more about my family that I had always had in mind to do one day, and 36 years after starting I am still trying to discover more.

Obviously Genealogy - or family history, is a major interest of mine, but I am also interested in astronomy, photography, all kinds of sports especially football (soccer), and with my wife Christine, I love to travel when we have the opportunity - and of course the money. Both Chris and I are very involved with B.C. Institute of Technology Retirees' Association. I taught for 25 years after working in the electrical industry for 26 years and eventually retired from BCIT in 1994.

The advent of the internet has been an important tool for genealogists since its inception, and to date 6 hitherto unknown cousins have contacted me because of the internet. A word of caution however! All information discovered on the internet should be verified in original sources such as censuses, parish registers, civil registrations, etc.,. Internet information can often be incorrect, and even official sources have their share of errors.
If anyone has questions pertaining to the contents of this website, I can be contacted here.

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