Researching Ian Sommerville
Dig into the past of Ian Sommerville using the links below. We hope you find this information useful!
 | Did you know that in the 1881 UK census there were 1181 people with the Sommerville surname? In that year Sommerville was ranked number 2429 for popularity in the UK. |
The name Ian means "God is gracious" and is of Scottish origin.
Records of Ian Sommerville on Ancestry
Ancestry is a major source of information if you are filling out the detail of Ian Sommerville in your family tree. Many large databases are available to search covering from births, deaths and marriages, military records, census records and immigration records with many other smaller collections too. Free trials are normally available and are a good way to fill out a lot of your tree quickly.
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Ancestry.com Global records search results for Ian Sommerville. |
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Ancestry.com US records search results for Ian Sommerville. |
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Ancestry.co.uk UK records search results for Ian Sommerville. |
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Ancestry.ca Canadian records search results for Ian Sommerville. |
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Ancestry.com.au Australian records search results for Ian Sommerville. |
DNA
Sometimes you can run into a brick wall in your tree and you just don't have enough evidence to make that next step back in time. If you are lucky then you may find some previously undiscovered Sommerville ancestors. Additionally, the modern DNA test can give you a breakdown of your ethnic mix - you may be surprised at the results!
Have you reached a brick wall in your Sommerville Tree?
Birth, Death and Marriage Records for Ian Sommerville and the Sommerville Genealogy
Birth, Death and Marriage records are often the best method of making the links to the Sommerville Genealogy that will form part of your family tree. Although records vary from country to country, they are normally the most formal record of a person's relations. From the sources below you will be able to find a birth record and, from that, a birth certificate can be ordered which lists the names of the mother and father, taking you back another generation in your tree. A marriage certificate may also list the names of the respective fathers of the bride and groom which may then help you to find them earlier in life on a census record enabling you to fill out more detail in the Sommerville family tree.
Search Parish Records for Ian Sommerville at Find My Past.
Explore for the UK registered births, marriages and deaths of Ian Sommerville using the FreeBMD database.
Check out Genealogy Bank for Ian Sommerville records.
Investigate MyHeritage for Ian Sommerville information.
Study the LDS Database for records about Ian Sommerville.
Research the Sommerville surname using fold3 Military Archives and view images of original Sommerville Military records.
| Did you know that there are currently 1472 people with the Sommerville surname in the UK? Sommerville is now ranked number 2708 for popularity in the UK. |
Sommerville Family Tree Databases
Another way to build your tree quickly is to use the research other people have already done. This can help to confirm or refute your own deductions - however, be wary of taking this data at face value as other researchers may not have been as meticulous as you. Always try to back up deductions with some definitive sources rather than relying too heavily on others.
Look at the WikiTree database for user contributed records for Ian Sommerville.
Study MyTrees for information on the Sommerville family and people looking to contact living Sommerville relations.
Look at One Great Family for Sommerville records submitted by people who are already researching the Sommerville Family Tree.
Find Ian Sommerville from Ireland on findmypast.ie
Sommerville Forums
There are a number of forums which are dedicated to rearching particular surnames. These can be good places to share your findings and also to tap into the knowledge that others may already have. These can sometimes be a good way of finding living relations as these tend not to show up on the other sources of information for privacy reasons.
Research the Sommerville surname using Genealogy.com forums .
| Did you know that there are currently 3038 people with the Sommerville surname in the USA? Sommerville is ranked number 156 for popularity in the USA. |
Miscellaneous Sommerville Databases
Search the Ellis Island Database for information on Ian Sommerville. This database contains over 25 million immigration records detailing passengers arriving in the United States of America.
Some Famous People called Ian Sommerville
Ian Sommerville (technician)
Ian Sommerville (June 3, 1940 – February 5, 1976) was an electronics technician and computer programmer. He is primarily known through his association with William S. Burroughs's circle of Beat Generation figures, and lived at Paris's so-called "Beat Hotel" by 1960, when they were regulars there, becoming Burroughs's lover and "systems adviser".
Sommerville was educated at the King's School, Canterbury, and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Around 1960, he programmed a random-sequence generator that Brion Gysin used in his cut-up technique. He and Gysin also collaborated in 1961 in developing the Dreamachine, a phonograph-driven stroboscope described as "the first art object to be seen with the eyes closed", and intended to affect the viewer's brain alpha wave activity.
Sommerville and Burroughs made the 5-minute tape "Silver Smoke of Dreams" in the early 1960s, and later provided the basis for the quarter-hour audio "cut-up" and "K-9 Was in Combat with the Alien Mind-Screens" around 1965. The following year Sommerville also installed two Revox reel-to-reel machines for Paul McCartney in Ringo Starr's apartment at 34 Montagu Square, Marylebone, London, and recorded Burroughs on the machine.
Sommerville along with Gysin and Burroughs collaborated on Let The Mice In, published in 1973. Burroughs' book My Education: A Book of Dreams, indeed largely composed of accounts of his dreams, includes dreams of talking with Sommerville.
He died on William Burroughs's birthday, 5 February 1976. Burroughs's biographer, Barry Miles reports that Ian had sent Burroughs a telegram that day saying "Happy birthday. Lots of love. No realisation. Ian".
Source: Ian Sommerville (technician), Wikipedia, The Free EncyclopediaOther names that sound a bit like Sommerville
Family names can get corrupted over time, particularly where literacy was not as good. The following list contains some names that have similar sounds so you may want to also look at one or two of the more likely possibilites.
Schnorf Smorfit Smurfit Smurfitt Somerbell Somerfeld Somerfelt Somerfield Somerville Sommerfeld Sommerfelt Sommerfield Sumervell Summerbell Summerfield Summerford Summerville
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