Sometimes a little reminder is all you need.
I have Dorset ancestors and have been making very good use of the Dorset parish records, provided by the Dorset History Centre to Ancestry. One of the key activities in compiling any family tree is to make sure that you "kill off" your forebears (i.e. find death and/or burial records). I was having great difficulty in doing this with families from Dorchester as the parochial burial records petered out from about 1856. What, I wondered, was the problem? Lost material? Poor storage? Failed microfilming?
Stupid me! A query to DHC elicited a very rapid response from Ed, an assistant at the Centre, who pointed out that the local municipal cemetery opened in 1856. Not only did he do that, but he reminded me of the existence of Dorset Online Parish Clerk, and pointed me to their page of transcribed records from the cemetery! Now, that's service. So, many thanks to DHC, and to Ed in particular. I've "killed off" several relatives and found one (who lasted only 1 year) of whom I knew nothing.
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