I have had a very interesting and profitable meeting with members Jan Rogers and John Amos. We were able to collate the information we had on the Doncaster area SAULs and discuss future research. Jan has extracted the SAULs from the YKS 1881 census and the Probate Index 1858 - 1950 where the index showed a YKS connection. The information contained in these indexes has helped considerably to extend the charts that I had prepared earlier. It has enabled us to see how some of the SAULs had spread out over the Yorkshire area migrating to towns such as Rotherham, Sheffield and Huddersfield.

John Amos has mainly concentrated on the Catholic families and has extracted SAULs from the registers of the Catholic Congregations at Burghwallis and Tanshelf. The baptisms and birth registers of the former for the latter part of the 18th century contain a good number of SAUL references. It is frustrating that for a period, the minister has failed to record the names of the parents, just the names of the sponsors. It seems fairly certain that the origins of many of the SAULs on our charts are going to be found in the Catholic tradition. At our meeting, we were able to tentatively identify some possible connections but a lot more research is going to be required to make positive links. One hopeful area is wills and John is making enquiries into what wills are extant.

Jan has offered further help and is going to extract more SAUL families from the 1881 census index. She is looking at CUL and WES, counties that are important SAUL areas.

In the last issue of Soul Search, I mentioned that Trevor Saul hailed from Preston, LAN. Trevor informs me that there are about 30 SAULs in the Preston telephone directory. He intends to write to them not only to seek any possible connections to his own family but also to tell them about the Sole Society. He hopes that responses will be received providing new information and perhaps some new members.

It is very encouraging that members are coming forward to help with research. As I, and other members of the committee have continually stressed, the speed at which the Society progresses is determined by the number of willing helpers. I would very much welcome more volunteers as much remains to be done. Even small amounts of information can be vital in proving connections. Over the years, a number of snippets of information have been sent. It was only recently that an 1861 census entry for Sheffield proved decisive in establishing a link between Sheffield and the Doncaster area. The information seemed unrelated at the time and was filed for future reference.

I am not able to report any new members this time but I have received a number of useful enquiries. A correspondent in New Zealand told me that he had a lot of information on the SAULs at Rathdrum, WIC, Ireland. This included the SAUL BMD entries from the parish records for the period 1704 - 1975 and the Monumental Inscriptions. He had all this information on computer and generously emailed a copy to me. This information has been added to the increasing pile of Irish SAUL information. I am hoping that a volunteer will come forward to collate and chart, as I mentioned in my last update.

Another useful inquiry came from California from a gentleman who said he had a copy of a will of an Isaac Saule, Citizen and Merchant Taylor of LND. Helpfully the will mentions that Isaac was born in Horley and the only baptism that would fit is an Isaac baptised at Horley in September 1588. I have asked for a copy of the will that should provide some more useful information.

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