Remembering the Pandemic of 2020

 

2020 – A Year of Pandemic

The “Novel Coronavirus" called COVID-19 has had a major impact on health, the economy, education, and people's lives in general. I first noticed references to the Coronavirus in January, when China quarantined about 40 million people to prevent its spreading, but it had already spread beyond China.

By March the tally of deaths in Europe was causing people to cancel their travel plans. In Italy they could not get enough respirators for all of the acute cases, and doctors had to decide who would get them and who would not, basically who would live and who would die. Saudi Arabia closed its borders to pilgrims, the Geveva Motor Show was canceled, and other international events followed.

On March 11, The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The Church announced that April General Conference would be held but the proceedings would be distributed through technology only. This would also be true of the October General Conference. 

By April, most major international events were canceled and many borders were closed to travel.

This caused panic buying by some people, When we were buying groceries, I noticed one woman with a shopping cart filled with packages of toilet paper. Soon there was no toilet paper on the shelves of any of the stores. Some foods became hard to find, such as canned goods, baking supplies, powdered milk, and eggs. But within a few weeks most things were again available, but sometimes with purchase limits.

People were asked to avoid large groups and to wear masks that covered their nose and mouth when they were in public places. Someone humorously remarked "I could never imagine myself walking into a bank wearing a mask and asking for money,” But of course, that was the new normal. Banks were still open as an essential service, but masks were required for health reasons. I heard reports from other areas, of people being given huge fines for being in public parks with their families. There was a lot of confusion by government, law enforcement, and the general public. Across the USA there were massive demonstrations and riots over a period of four months for various reasons.

Many businesses were closed, especially those that required close contact between people. Hair dressers and clothing stores were especially badly hit. A friend of our daughter had to declare bankruptcy because her beauty shop was closed but she still had business expenses that had to be paid. And a favorite dress store Allia & Tanjay went out of business.

Governments went many billions of dollars into debt trying to help those suffering financially.

By July some of the measures had eased, In September we were able to have church twice a month locally, so long as our numbers did not exceed 100 and there were at least 2 empty chairs separating different families, Some chose to attend church at home using Zoom. In October we could have church every Sunday with the same limits we have been observing.

But October also saw “the second wave of COVID-19” with a huge upsurge of infections. Apparently there are about 20 active cases in our local area, and a granddaughter has been exposed to the infection at school.

I saw a statistic recently that said 70% of the deaths are people over the age of 80. Some of these may have been people who were already dying of other causes, so sometimes the statistics are only part of the story,

The pandemic continues, Will the future bring n effective vaccine? I certainly hope so. In the meantime, let's try to be wise and keep safe.

In our family histories. it is a time to remember.

A beginner's guide and some UK resources

There are many beginner's guides available, All of the major genealogy websites has at least one. A reader of this site, recommended this one. I like the fact that is very general in nature, and is aimed at total beginners. 

Genealogy & Ancestry Guide – Finding Your Family History

Although it is hosted on a UK site, the article refers to the US sources.

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Most of my recent research has been in England and Wales, which has some excellent free resources.

FreeBMD is free and there is no need to create an account.  - Is an index to Births, Marriages and Deaths since 1 July 1837. I find it especially useful for finding the maiden names of females. From the UK censuses you can usually estimate when and where a couple was married. I usually look at the age and birthplace of the oldest children listed in the census, as a starting point. Then in FreeBMD, I look for the marriage of a man by the father's name, in that locality during the preceding 5 years, Since you now know the mother's maiden name and approximate year and locality of her birth, you can research her genealogy.

The General Register Office index  requires a free account and is more awkward to search, I find it useful for finding the maiden surname of the mother before the time period when this is given in FreeBMD. I can also find the birth registrations of the children, including those that may have died before their first census.

UKBMD gives access to a variety of UK sites that can be useful such as OPC - Online Parish Clerks, 

FreeREG can give you access to the entire contents of the official record if this site has it, It is worth a try, but remember that FreeBMD has an index of essentially all births, marriages and deaths from mid 1837, to the latest dates made public. FreeREG is limited to the records that people have added. A major strength of FreeREG is that it includes Church of England records prior to 1837, as well as government (GRO) records since that date. 

FamilySearch has extracted the data from thousands of UK parish registers. Everything on the site is entirely free, but does require registration, Unlike the other sites I have listed, FamilySearch has records from all over the world, 

A relevant bit of UK history:

When King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church, he established the Church of England, as the state church and the state department of social services. The local parish was expected to minister to the spiritual and physical needs of the king's subjects living within the parish boundaries. Starting in 1538, each parish was asked to keep a record of christenings, marriages and burials, Unfortunately, many of the older parish registers have perished over the preceding 500 years, but it is not uncommon to find them going back into the 1600s. Members of the aristocracy can sometimes be found in even older records (e.g. lands and titles), but for common people there are almost no records going back further than this. In 1837 the government assumed the direct responsibility for keeping a record of all births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales, This is the role of the General Register Office.

Scotland and Ireland have their own institutions and their own resources.. 

I hope you enjoy finding your ancestors!