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WHERE AND HOW TO START. Before you start on the road to trace your ancestors be aware that
it can take over your spare time and become a fascinating but sometimes frustrating hobby.
The first thing to do is to decide how you are going to record your findings. It is best
to draw up a simple straightforward and easy to read chart, known as a drop down chart or
pedigree chart. If you intend keeping your pedigree on a computer you can download a free
program from , The Church of Latter-day Saints, (LDS) website. This is the organisation of
the Mormon Church who have done tremendous amounts of work collating Births, Deaths and
marriages from Church records all over the world. The site can be found at: http://www.familysearch.org/.
Well where do you start, always work backwards in time. Start with yourself and work
back to your parents, then Grandparents and so on. Begin by writing down your own personal
details, spouses details, your children etc. Then make notes of your close relatives, your
Parents, your 4 Grandparents, and if you can your 8 Great Grandparents. Do the same with
your Spouses family. At first make it your aim to find details on your 16 Great, Great,
Grandparents and your Spouses G.G.Grandparents. This gives you 32 ancestors to trace and
will take you back into the 1800's. Most people usually start with there fathers ancestral
line as it is this that gave you your Surname. Trace as many lines as you can because if
you come to a dead end with one line you can carry on with another. You never know what
you will find, you may come across a noble family, a Highway Man or the very poor who had
to live on the charity of the Parish
How much detail you wish to include is up to you and how much time you are prepared to
give to the job in hand. You can just include, Date of Birth, Marriage and Death, or you
can find out about their Education, Careers, how they fitted in with the society where
they lived.
You will be able to see how your family has changed course throughout the years, your
family could be rich, but could have started very poor. A farm labourers son may have
become a Blacksmith, his son could have become a office clerk and his son a merchant, the
merchants son may have studied and become a lawyer and his son gone into the army and
received land for his valour and achievements.
SURNAMES.
Before you progress too far, a word of
warning is needed, do not become too attached to your modern day Surname and the way it is
spelt. Most Surnames have changed over the centuries, some quite significantly. They have
been affected by local dialect, the name being spelt incorrectly by Parish Clerks, the
Illiteracy or speech impediments of our ancestors, etc.
It was not until the 1800's when education became compulsory, that a more stable spelling
of Surnames came about. If you become to attached to the way your Surname is spelt
you will soon loose your way, especially the further back in time you go.
A common variation is when the 's' sound from the end of a Christian name is added to the
front of a Surname, such as, 'James Tolley', becomes 'James Stolley' or 'Alice Medley,
becomes 'Alice Smedley'.
Another common change that takes place is in the, 'vowel ' of a name, such has Titford
becomes Totford, Tetford, Tutford, etc. To conclude, have a long look at your present
Surname and think of all the possible ways it could have been spelt and do not discard
these variations if you come across them in your research. Also bear in mind the same can
happen to Place Names, such has Village and town names, which have changed in the way they
are spelt many times over the centuries.
There are several sites on the web that provide Surname lists and help with Surname
studies one is at: http://www.one-name.org
This has a register of over 8,000 Surnames and variants with contact details of each
member who is studying each name.
There is also a site of Surname lists by County which has email addresses of researchers
studying the name it can be found at: http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/SurnamesList/
YOUR FIRST AID TO RESEARCH.
THE CIVIL REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS
It was July 1st 1837 when the system was
introduced to officially register all Births, Marriages and Deaths in England and Wales
and issue a certificate of the registration to the persons concerned. This register is
most important to help with your research. They will enable you to trace your family back
to the mid 1800's. The Birth certificate allows you to prove a persons parentage and when
and where he or she was born. A marriage certificate proves a marriage took place and that
any offspring were legitimate. A death certificate allows you to end the research into
that person and also states the cause of death.
The Family Records Centre in London opened in 1997 and is run jointly by the Office for
National Statistics and the Public Records Office.http://www.ons.gov.uk
The BMD's are indexed in alphabetical order by Surname and then first names. Up to 1984
there were four quarterly indexes for each year (March, June, September and December) and
after 1984 annually indexed. You can obtain copy certificates in person at, The Family
Records Office. If you cannot visit London, or you have identified an event in copies of
the Indexes, you should write to the Office for National Statistics in Southport. You can
also obtain copies from the Superintendent Registrar of the registration district where
the event took place.
WHAT DO THEY TELL YOU?
BIRTH CERTIFICATES.
The information found on a birth certificate includes, when and where the child was born.
When the time of birth is included it usually means a multiple birth, but in some register
offices it was added as a matter of course in the early days of the civil register.
The next entry is the child's given name(s), its sex, the Fathers full name and occupation
(often this was left empty if the child was illegitimate ), the Mothers full name and her
maiden surname, this is prefixed by 'formerly'. ( The Surname from a previous marriage
would be prefixed by 'late'.)
This is followed on the certificate by the, Name, Address and signature of the person
reporting the Birth, the date of registration and the signature of the Registrar.
To conclude, from the birth certificate you should now know the Father and the Maiden name
of the Mother. This information should enable you to search for the Marriage of the
Parents and progress to find the, 'Marriage Certificate'.
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES.
Marriage registrations are indexed twice, under the
surnames of both bride and groom. Marriage certificates show the date and place of the
wedding and whether it took place by banns, licence or certificate. The full names of the
bride and groom together with their ages, although sometimes replaced with, 'Full Age' ,
which means 21 and over ( 18 and over after 1969 ). The certificate also shows
pre-marriage status, ( Bachelor, spinster, Widow, etc ), and the occupation of the two
parties and their place of residences. The names of the fathers of the couple and their
occupations are also listed. The certificate will also have the signature of the clergyman
or registrar, the signatures of the bride and groom, ( often just a cross, known as their
mark ).There will also be the signatures of two witnesses.
SOME PROBLEMS YOU MAY ENCOUNTER.
Ages entered by the bride and groom may be misleading, due to errors,
exaggeration or downright lies. Until raised in 1929 the legal age for marriage was 12 for
girls and 14 for boys. Until it was lowered to 18 years old in 1969 the age where parental
consent was needed was 21 years of age, therefore the certificate may state the ages of
the bride and groom as either, 'Full Age' or a 'Minor'. A under age couple marrying
against their parents wishes may add a few years to their ages. Also if there is a large
difference between the ages of the bride and groom a few years may be added or taken off
to bring them closer together.
The occupations of some of the entries on the certificates may be exaggerated to suggest a
higher social or employment status.
The fathers name may be incorrect, sometimes to conceal illegitimacy sometimes because the
father had died many years earlier and his name might have been forgotten.
These are just a few of the problems you should bear in mind when you look at
certificates. Do not think because they are official documents
they tell the whole truth, use them in conjunction with other data to progress back in
time.
DEATH CERTIFICATES.
Death Certificates do not provide much information to help with tracing your
ancestors, but once a death has been found, other records, such has newspapers, etc, can
be gold mines of information, there may also be a Will, (see Legacies)
that can give leads to other relatives. The persons age at death will also aid finding a
birth certificate.
The details revealed on a Death Certificate are, when and where died, Name in full, Sex,
Occupation, cause of death, Name and address of informant, (usually a close relative),
Date of registration. Deaths of children should include the fathers name and sometimes the
registered death of a married women will include her husbands name.
COUNTING THE POPULATION
THE CENSUS AS AN AID TO TRACING YOUR ANCESTORS.
Since1801 when the first Census took place,
the system for counting the population has been a treasure trove of information for
Genealogists. It has been carried out every 10 years since then, except in 1941 during the
second world war and the 1931 Census returns were destroyed.
In 1801 when the census was first used it was just a head count of the population, which
was found to be 10.8 Million. The next 3 census in 1811, 1821 and 1831 were the same
format as the first one. It was in 1841 that the Government realised that the Census could
be a useful tool for assessing the future needs of the Country. This Census therefore was
expanded to include, Names, Addresses, Ages, Occupations. In 1851 the relationship to the
Head of the Household and Birth Place were also added. So as you can see whole families
can be found and there ages, Birth places, siblings, etc can be found and so you can see
if the family has travelled about in between births of there children or if they remained
in the same place, in fact much information can be obtained from the Census.
Because the Census contains information which is personnel, such as illegitimate children,
a persons age and perhaps being somewhere they shouldn't have been on census night the
persons included in it may not wish there details made public, the Census therefore
remains closed to public viewing for 100 years, hence the 1901 census will not be
available until 2002.http://www.pro.gov.uk/ is where
details can be found on the 1901 Census Project.
Most Census returns are available for viewing at County Record offices, Major Reference
Libraries and Family History Centres. The 1881 census has been produced on CD ROM by the
Mormon Church, assisted by Family History Centres. It contains a transcript of every
household in England, Scotland and Wales. The CD set can be purchased from the LDS Church
Headquarters or used at Family History Centres and Local Record Offices.
PARISH REGISTERS
TO TAKE YOU FURTHER BACK IN TIME.
Parish Registers - The Curch's records of
Baptisms, Marriages and Burials date back to 1538 when it became law requiring every
Church to keep record books to record the date of each, Baptism, Wedding and Burial in the
Parish. These records are the key to finding your ancestors before the introduction of the
Civil Records.
If your Ancestors stayed in one place for centuries you will be able to find many
generations of your family.
The Parish Registers came about after a mandate issued by Thomas Cromwell, Vicar Generall
to Henry V111 which ordered the Clergy to record all Baptisms, Marriages and Burials
within their Parishes. Then in 1598 the Incubent was obliged to send each year a full copy
of all the previous 12 months entries. These copies became known as the, Bishops
Transcripts or (BT's) for short.
The older Parish Records are usualy held at County or City Record Offices, though some
still remain at the church were they were recorded. The IGI or 'International Genealogical
Index' is a first port of call when searching the Parish Registers.The Mormon Church who
compiled the IGI has some 72 Million names entered in its database for the British Isles.
You can search the IGI by going to the web site at: http://www.familysearch.org/.
and search the database. The IGI can also be searched on microfiche at Family History
Centres and local Record Offices.
WHAT WILL YOU FIND.
Baptism records should show the following information, Date of
Baptism, Childs Christian Name, Parents Christian and Surnames, Abode, Trade or Profession
of Parents and by whom the Ceremony was performed.
Marriage records will show you, Name and Parish of Residence of Bride and
Groom, When and where the couple were married, Whether the marriage was by Banns or
Licence, Whether by consent of parents or guardians, by whom they were married and the
signatures of Clergy, Bride and Groom and at least two witnesses.
Burial records will show, Name of desceced, abode, when buried, Age and
who performed the ceremony.
GRAVES & MONUMENTS.
Memorials and Headstones can offer all
kinds of insights into your family history.
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