Family History - Getting Started

Discovering your family's past is a fascinating and rewarding hobby.

Research has been made easier with the growing amount of information available on the Internet and you can also use your computer to help organise and display the results. A family tree illustrates the basic details of family members but finding out more about your ancestors' lives makes it really worthwhile.

• Start with what you already know to draw up a basic family tree and work backwards

• Talk to relatives who may be able to fill gaps in your tree. They may have memories of previous generations, family stories, documents or photographs
  
  
• Keep a record of where your information came from.
  
  
• Always check original sources where possible. There are many sources of information available to help your research but you need to be aware of the difference between primary and secondary sources:
  
  
  • Primary Sources - these are original historical records created at the time, for example: an entry in a Parish Register or a Birth Certificate.
    
    
  • Secondary Sources - these are 'second-hand' records, for example: transcribed records on the Internet or family stories. Secondary sources may be inaccurate so always try to check back to the original document.

Create your Family Tree

You will need to record details you find for each person in your tree. There are many software packages that can be used to organise your family history data on your PC. Demonstration versions can be downloaded from the Internet so you can try them out before you decide which one meets your needs. Alternatively, you can use a card index system if you prefer to do it manually.

One advantage of using a computer programme is that it can create ancestor and descendent trees for you from the information you enter. Trees can be modified to include a range of information as well as photographs or other images.

Information you or your family may already have:

• Certificates of birth, marriage or death
  
  
• Photographs
  
  
• Newspaper cuttings
  
  
• Medals
  
  
• Letters and Diaries

What information should you record?

• Dates of key events -
  birth, marriage and death
  
  
• Places - where did they
  come from or move to?
  
  
• Occupations
  
  
• Details of siblings
  
  
• Other biographical information such as cause of death

Basic records

As you progress you will use a wide range of documents and materials but to begin with you will probably concentrate on birth, marriage and death certificates and census records.

Births, Marriages, Deaths (BMD)

On 1 July 1837 a civil registration system for births, marriages and deaths was introduced in England and Wales. This began on 1st January 1855 in Scotland.

• The original registers are not open to the public. To get access to the information on one of these certificates start by searching the national birth, marriage and death indexes that have been created by the
  General Register Office.
  
  
• Indexes can be searched on microfiche at county archives and online at a number of sites.
  See my links page.
  
  
• Indexes are arranged quarterly for each year with names listed in alphabetical order for each quarter
  
  
  • March quarter lists events registered in January, February and March
  • June quarter lists events registered in April, May and June
  • September quarter lists events registered in July, August and September
  • December quarter lists events registered in October, November and December
    
    
• When you find the record you need, make a note of the
  • year
  • quarter
  • registration district
  • volume
  • page number.
    
    Use this information to order a copy of a certificate from the GRO/ONS, currently this costs £7.00 per certificate.

    
    Extract from an early handwritten GRO index, later ones are typed

    

    
    Even original documents can be inaccurate
    Richard Roulstone's death certificate dated 1872 gave his age as
    74 (above) - Was he born in 1798 then? He was actually baptised in 1796! Maybe his son who registered the death didn't know his father's actual age.

  Census Records

Censuses have been taken in Britain every ten years since 1801 but it was not until 1841 that these included the names of householders. Census records are closed for 100 years to protect privacy so currently 1841 to 1901 are available.

• The 1841 census records the name, age, gender and occupation for each individual in every property on census day.
  

  Take care when noting ages from the 1841 census as, over the age of 15, ages were rounded down to the nearest five years, for example:
  
  ages 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 were recorded as age 20

  ages 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 were recorded as age 25 and so on.

• From 1851 the census also recorded marital status of everyone over 15 within each household, their relationship to the head of household as well as the parish and county of birth. Age from 1851 was their age on census day.
  
  
• Census records can be found at county archives and libraries and online at a number of sites. See my links page.

What Can You Learn From Census Records?

• The address where your relatives lived
  
  
• Number of people living in the house and their relationship to the Head of the Household
  
  
• Marital status
  
  
• Individuals' ages
  
  
• Occupations
  
  
• Where they were born

How accurate are they?

• Many people were illiterate and the enumerator may have misspelt or misheard names. One person's name may appear with a variety of spellings - eg: Roulstone, Roulston, Roulson all appear in the same family.
  
  
• Individuals were not always entirely honest about their age, occupation or may not have known exactly where they were born.

  Archives

While there is a growing range of online resources you can't do it all on the Internet. Sooner or later you will need to visit local or national archives to continue and to check your research using original documents. Each County has an official repository (known as the County Archives or Record Office) for documents produced by official bodies, societies and individuals that are no longer in current use. Here you will find Parish registers and records, school registers, business records, Wills and a wealth of other local documents. County libraries usually hold old newspapers on microfilm and extensive photographic archives of the local area. Many smaller libraries have a local studies section too. Archives are usually free to use. To find some of the main archives held in your area of research check the ARCHON Directory - www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon.

Find out more

There are many books, magazines and websites where your can learn more about tracing your family history

• See my links to take you directly to a comprehensive range of online resources and information.
  
  
• Or, if you're in Nottinghamshire, why not join one of my courses.