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Getting Started with Family History -
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Copyright © 2001-2008
Tel +44 (0) 1704 512966 |
REFERENCE LIBRARIES
Having explored all the familiar ground with the aid of your family, the next phase is to look at the "outside world." There is a vast amount of information available with easy access if you know where to look for it. In the first place go to your local reference library. Go on a quiet day and allow yourself plenty of time. Take your notebook and pencil with you. Go with some idea, however vague of what you want. Have a word with the librarian, admit your ignorance, and see what they have to offer - they are usually extremely helpful.
Depending on the size of the reference department and the interest of the local authority, you might find anything from half-a-dozen useless books to shelves full of information, microfiche readers and computers connected to the Internet. Look particularly for small books and booklets which may guide you more easily than larger volumes. Make a note of anything that interests you and the names of books you might want to refer to on another visit.
TOMBSTONES
Often referred to by the "knowledgeable" as "MIs" (Monumental Inscriptions). Copy ALL the inscription, not just the names and dates of someone you may be interested in. Some of the rest may not seem to be necessary, but it may contain a clue to link with some other snippet of information.
CENSUS RETURNS
With any luck, in certain lines your family may have got you back 100 years or more, without any further expense other than some visits. If you have got back to 1891 or earlier, and you know where someone was living at that time, try to look at the Census Returns. These are a valuable source of information and are available for the public to examine without charge for the years 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891 and 1901 will become available shortly.
However, what state they are in and how much you can find in practice depends on the size of the area they cover, and often upon whether any dedicated group of volunteers has typed them, or whether you have to read someone's scrawl. Villages are often better than towns for this, but it is an important free first step into the world "outside" the family. The Local public library or Reference Library is the place to ask.
For everyone living in the place on the night of the census, the returns record their first name, surname, age, and lace of birth, also their relationship to the Head of the household, whether married or widowed, and their employment, if any. It is important to note that this is the information "as given" to the enumerator, there is no legal requirement as to its accuracy, only to be registered, and particularly in the earlier returns it often depended upon the enumerator's hearing and spelling!
Consequently, ages can be elastic. A wife older than her husband would knock a few years off, until she became a widow, teenagers would "age" a bit to get a job. In 1841, ages were often "rounded" to the nearest 5 (or 10!) years.
As education only became compulsory in 1870, spelling of names was often "as said." While most people could say their names, few could spell them - we have a relative called Gale, spelt Gaill at his baptism, Gayle at his marriage, and Gail at his burial, each entry by a different parish priest!
Children in one return often are missing from the next - they may have died, or gone to work in another village, or married and gone to live elsewhere.
Beware of looking for non-existent relatives. One return might give a full first name and another a shortened or nickname. With elastic ages, Ch/s (short for Chris) aged 40 in one return, and Christopher aged 55 in the next one could easily suggest that you are looking for a Charles aged 50 who doesn't exist! (Our family tree has a girl named "Cardina" who was actually Caroline 10 years later - bad writing by the enumerator had caused the "ol" to be misread as a "d"!)
In another instance, Rosanna in 1841 & 1851 became Rose in 1861, while her age in 1871 suggested that the bloom would be fading, and she was shown as Ann. To add to the confusion, the enumerator's writing in 1831 was so bad that the surname for the whole family, Webster, had been misread as Hibster!
However, accepting these limitations, in any census returns it is surprising what links you can find by working through the ages and relationships shown.
PARISH REGISTERS
One important point is that the compulsory registration of births and deaths at the Registrar' s office only commenced in 1837. If you can find any relatives in the 1851 to 1891 census whose ages suggest a date of birth before 1836, you may be able to trace them through the Parish Registers.
The Parish Registers in general go back to around 1558, though, like family records mentioned earlier, many no longer exist. It was the duty of the Parish Priest to record all baptisms, marriages and burials occurring in the parish. Some were more efficient than others, at one extreme recording other additional events in great detail, at the other not bothering for years. There were many instances where the Parish priest refused to record anyone who had not been baptised into the Church of England, hence many Methodist, Wesleyans, Quakers and such were never recorded. Also the priests were not always as thorough as they might have been, and particularly with burials where there are two or three generations with the same name. The bald statement 'Dorothy Gale` gives no indication as to whether it was the grandmother, mother or daughter being buried. Note that baptism could be any time from a few hours or days to several years after the actual birth.
Parish Registers are usually available at the County Record office on microfilm, again for free public access, although because they require the use of a "reader" you may have to book a time to use this machine a few weeks in advance. You may be lucky enough to live in an area where the records have been transcribed onto computer, accessible in your local library. Again, ask the library staff for assistance where necessary as these records are another valuable source of information, usually costing only the transport to get there.
Where parish registers are available, DON'T dig and delve, and don't worry too much about matching entries. Do the job in two stages - extract everything that might be the remotest use, and sort it out at your leisure later.
If they are separated into Marriages, Baptisms and Burials, begin with the Marriages, and start at the latest year available and work backwards. While you will obviously be starting looking for known surname(s), record every maiden surname, and every place of origin of both spouses if this is given. Record also EVERY entry you find of the maiden surname - these are usually brothers, sisters or cousins not in your direct line, but can give valuable clues as to where to search next when one source dries up. If you find no trace of a surname for about 30 years, this usually indicates that the family moved into the area in that time. For safety go back 50 years.
When you have completed the Marriages as far back as seems reasonable, do the same with the Baptisms and Burials.
The ability to link your researches with the census returns and parish registers obviously depends on the knowledge as to where your forebears lived.
FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES
By now you will be beginning to find your way around and possibly need some outside help. There is a great deal of help available on a reciprocal basis, but the most important things to remember are to ALWAYS include a stamped addressed envelope with your query, and ALWAYS write a short note of thanks, even if they haven't been able to help - they will most probably have spent a good deal of time on your behalf.
There are Family History Groups all over the world. Whether you join the local group will depend on either whether your research needs are local, or whether you simply want help and friendship from others in your vicinity. Every group is independent although they have links with each other. You can join any Group in the area in which you are searching for what is usually a small subscription. They will put you in contact with anyone in that area who is researching the same surname(s) and you will get valuable help for the cost of a few postage stamps or phone calls.
There are also monthly magazines printed which also publish simple surname requests. These are not only a very reasonable way of hoping to get information but also a good source of finding other people researching the same surname. If you do get any replies from this excellent service, again courtesy requires at least a short note of thanks, enclosing a stamp to repay their postage to you of the information. The Federation of Family History Societies publish many informative booklets on different aspects of research.
And of course .... THE INTERNET
Today, you can conduct a vast amount of research using the Internet; you can exchange information easily and quickly with new contacts; you can delve into the massive database of the Church of the Latter Day Saints containing over 35,000,000 names; you can talk with fellow researchers in Newsgroups - the list is endless.
A search for "Family History" using the Google search engine brings up over 3 million responses - it simply isn't possible to list all the useful links on this one website, but we will do our best to provide you with some useful pointers. However, the main purpose of these pages are to offer you advice on the RECORDING and STORING of the information you gather.
Click here to move on to Researching Uncharted Territory or click one of the links below to move on from this topic.
Introduction
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