Forum Topic

Family tree

Where do I start ?  As I'm now the oldest in my family I feel I should be making some record of my predecessors.  Has anyone any experience of this ? Any tips gratefully received.  Thanks.

Pat Kingham ● 6583d20 Comments

Nice, I suggest that you contact Ealing Council... the Births, Marriages and Deaths Section... who may well have a register of all burials and cremations in the Borough... and the location of plots etc.Hounslow Council certainly has such a service and I have found them very helpful.

Jim Lawes ● 3820d

My dad starting searching and soon found a whole series of problems. He knew that there were several generations of market gardeners who gradually drifted south, and would often join me when I was working in those areas. He discovered that many births were only registered when the child had survived for a year or more because of the registration charges, so dates could be approximate. Births marriages and deaths would often be recorded by the only person in the village who could read and write at all, so spelling was often a rather variable guess. He became used to searching parish registers for anything that even resembled the truth and the approximate dates.

Christopher Bell ● 3820d

1st Step: Invest in the Family Tree Maker software.  It is essential.  Have research my family for years and it doesn't take long to get 1000's of ancestors.  The only way to keep them connected properly with notes and relationship e.g. 3rd cousin twice removed etc. is that software or one similar.

Charles Campbell ● 3821d

I have a big question here! My father P. J. W. Benning died in august 2004 in Ealing, but i have no idea if he was burried or what ever .... And i cant find any grave. Were can i find out more?? Can someone help me??Greetings from switzerland nici

Nici Zimmermann ● 3821d

My grandmother used to talk about her family and some of the stories I heard again and again and again.  Of course I didn't write them down - it would have been a bit of a drag as a teenager to do that and neither did I record them - and now?  Well of course I can't remember them and I can't ask her.  It is these stories of life as it was and seeing how your family fitted into the history of the time that makes it so interesting.  Record your childhood memories and those of other members of your family!

Philippa Bond ● 6580d

Thanks everyone for your advice.  Looks like this is something I shall add to the list of things to do when I'm fully retired. What a helpful bunch of folk. Thanks again.

Pat Kingham ● 6581d

Tony's advice at the top is good.The basic process is as follows. Using birth, marriage, death records (BMD) get your line(s) back to 1901, the last published census.Using on-line resourses (ancestry.com) find them in the census 1901, cross checking against names, ages, places of births and occupations.When you find them, it has the list of other occupants of the household, and their relationships. Using this go back through the previous census records to 1841, looking up their family as you go.Where you get stuck, go to the Islington FRC and find their birth recorded in one of their registers, thus meaning you can order their birth certificate. This will get you going again. The BMD records start in 1837, so before this you will need to reference church records on-line (occasionally) or county records offices. (churches no longer hold records).The freebmd site is invaluable, as is the mormons site with the ir International Genealogical index. Use their software , it is free, and is the one used by most enthusastic genealogists, and makes sharing data easy.Tip - don't record your research in hardback books - keep them in loose sheets so they can be split and put into folders.The rule is that you require three separate pieces of evidence to prove a link - don't rely on one, as you can go horribly wrong.This can get horribly addictive. I have got all  lines back to at least the 1700s without too much trouble. It is very time cosuming though.I have a links site that includes web-sites you will need. If you click on my name will enable you to email me, and I can send you the link.

Adrian Orchard ● 6581d

Been reading the various postings on this topic - find this subject appealing. I'd be interested to know how many souls you have on your respective family trees - with dob, dom and dods recorded.Our No.1 son has been working on our family tree for about 10 years now. I'd be interested to know how many individuals you all have on your trees and have you turned up any interesting black sheeps yet.

Gerry Tan ● 6581d

You can do a lot online now.  I remember a couple of free censuses being online (not 1901) and freebmd.org.uk which has a lot of births marriages and deaths (not all). You can vary the amount of info you put in to find where the name you are researching is turning up.  Notice the way that names have been entered on the register - similarly and they are more likely to be a family. As someone else said you must prove the info.  Be very wary of info on the Church of the Latter Day Saints site and use it for ideas and confirmation and not for proof.You can order your certificates online.  I have ordered Yorkshire and Lancashire ones from the Yorkshire and Lancashire BMD sites (ukbmd.org.uk).Make sure you get as much info as you can from living relatives.  Keep in touch with them!

Philippa Bond ● 6581d

My wife informs me that the books have gone from Islington, so all else is film or computer based.According to National Archives the books are being held in storage in Bournemouth, but not accessible to the public.It's a pity but on my last visit to FRC I can see why. Some old biddy was slamming the books about as if they were sacks of potatoes. The whole reading ledge, 6m by 1.2m  approx, shook.

Alan Brainsby ● 6581d

Sorry Sarah, but the books are a sore issue with most genealogists at the mo, because the microfiches are so bad.  It has been the talk of all the mags and yes it is space.  But there is no talk of updating in some other way as yet.  There is so much on the internet but is great to get you hands on a nice bit of old paper.  Still there is masses of it at Kew you are allowed to look at and I can pop along there for a quick fix??!!

Jo Smith ● 6582d

Jo.  OOps - out of bed the wrong side methinks?  How do you know the bound books will not be available?  Shame the books are going but I suppose they take up too much room.How are they going to allow access to the records then - the microfiche are often in a pretty poor and unreadable state when you thumb through them.PM to Pat.

Sarah Felstead ● 6582d

No, the bound books will NOT be available. I thought I mentioned this in my last message.

Jo Smith ● 6582d

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/The National archives at Kew allows free access to census and BMD records.  It is a lovely building and I understand the Family records office is closing and moving to Kew shortly - so the bound books will be available.  You can't beat looking through the record books and after finding the census records on the computer, getting a print from the original hand written records.They sell a pack of blank recording documents called the "Family History Starter pack" and I copy the blank sheets to use.  No point in getting software until you have sorted out how you are going to store the information and have a number of people you have found out about.The best and most fun piece of information I had so far was a Victorian funeral card which led to a burial ground just off the North Circular - the person had been living in Islington but the burial ground was out in the Countryside.  We were told at the cemetery that the graves would all be grown through by trees and we wouldn't find much but they gave us a burial map and we struck gold!  ...  3 family graves together and 10 interments.

Sarah Felstead ● 6582d

Don't go to Islington it does not have the paper records any more and I think has closed down.  Best go to Kew and if you want to do that Friday after 2pm, it is usually fairly dead and you can get at all the records faily easily and park.  They have 1841-1901 census free, for Scotland ,England and wales, they also have bmd on microfiche and the Mormon IGI, they have all record card for WW1 + 11. And most of the forces records.  The best thing to do is the pre-search tour of the place, but to get in you will need two forms of id with address, but it is all rather easy and staff are of a great help.  Try buying some of the Family Tree mags which are a great help and always have beginners guides, and don't forget to look for wills an invaluable source of info.  Also do not rely on info prove it!  Good luck

Jo Smith ● 6582d

The computers at the library let you access Ancestry com for free (if it's not that one it's a similar one!) plus you can get to various cencuses

Viv Ellis ● 6583d

I have now hundreds of names going back to the 17th century (on my wife's side). I found it informative and great fun what can be done on the net. My frustration is the amount charged for copies of certificates by our monopolist powers that be who will not make them accesible on line. Going back beyond the 1841 census though is much harder work.

Graham Weeks ● 6583d

A distant cousin of mine - we don't even share the same name - started up a group on MyFamily.com which now has information, pictures and family tree going back to the early 18th century.It's got some really interesting stuff on the New Zealand Nathans but naturally gets a bit thin further back.I believe it takes up quite a lot of his time but it helps keep up with current family as well as delve into the past.

Sara Nathan ● 6583d

I have recently started doing my family tree. My first point of call was genes reunited and i found some distant relatives, so that was a good starting point for me. I have also joined ancestry website (www.ancestry.co.uk) which i have found fantastic and now have printed off loads of census records of my relatives and have all the details that i need in order to get hold of birth and marriage certificates etc. i think that this website is offering a free 14day trial of the site before you sign up. Also genes reunited have a forum on which you can post questions, or ask for help etc and people are good at getting back to you with ideas of where to look.Good luck in your research

Fiona Hart-ives ● 6583d

Hi Pat  First of all,how far can you go back at the moment,Grand Parents,Great Grand Parents etc?  Do you have any Birth,Death and Marriage certificates?  You'll probably need a computer program,we use The Times Family Tree. It's surprising how quickly it gets very w i d e,and sticking bits of paper together soon gets chaotic.  You'll probably end up going to The Family Records Centre at 1 Middleton Street London EC1R 1UW. You can check out their services/costs online, I think the records only go back to 1837. If you do go there have a list of people that you want to trace beforehand,don't expect to find them all,it takes ages and you'll be exhausted at the end of it.  To go back further you could have a look at a website run by The Church of Latter day Saints (I think thats's the Mormon Church),they have set themselves the task of recording everybody that has ever existed...rather them than me.  http://publicrecordsonlinerecords.com/Ther are several websites that you can join,like Genes Re-United where you'll bump into other people looking for the same people you are,you'll probably find lots of second cousins etc. there.That's enough for now...Good Luck!

Tony Wood ● 6583d