I hope I might be able to help you find information on your tree. If you are looking for British ancestors, then its almost certain I can help you. How can I help? Well, by finding names of ancestors, maybe following one line back (perhaps your father’s and his father’s). Some people like to follow the female line back, through mother and grandmother etc. Others want to push all lines back as far as possible.

I also look for the character and personality behind the person. I look for their occupations, where they live gives an idea of their status and standing in the community. Perhaps they have a record in a newspaper, perhaps a military record. All these things I can seek out.

Where do we start? It partly depends on your name and the names you’re researching. How unusual they are. Then we look at where we can pick up. if I’m starting from scratch, any information you have already found is a great help. I try to get a start back before 1920 if possible. So this means knowing your parents full names and dates of birth (where possible). It also is a great help if you know your grandparents names and dates. After that I take it on a case by case basis. The first people to talk to are any relatives around you who might be able to give you a hand. Both my parents are in their 70s but they are a great help to me in my research, trawling through their memories and photo boxes for things that can help. However I can start anywhere and work with minimal information if that’s all you have.

Once I have the initial information, I use the following information to take the lines back:

• English and Welsh birth records give the mother’s maiden name (if the birth is after 1912). Before that we need to get a certificate to confirm this information. The birth certificate also has the father’s profession on it and the place the child was born. Normally using the record this allows us to proceed back to the father without needing to get the certificate.
• English and Welsh marriage records can then often be tied up to give the name of spouses. Again the certificate will show not only the names of the partners, but often their ages, their father’s names and their professions.
• Census records show the members of a family including siblings, and give approximate dates of birth and also professions. Censuses were carried out in United Kingdom in (March/April) 1841 (limited information), 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901. The 1911 census will be available from January 1st 2012. There are also some earlier censuses for small towns. Some of these are available.
• Death certificates will show who registered the death. Often a partner or child. This can give a clue to relatives. There are also very interesting, if sad, records of people who fell during the two World Wars.
• Emigration reports for people leaving the UK from 1890 to 1960. These are useful in finding “missing” people. I can also check records for births/marriages/deaths in Australia and the USA as well as various US censuses.
• Medal rolls from the first World War show name and regiments of soldiers. Merchant Seaman’s records.
• Other sites show professions, interesting facts and small pieces of information which lead to a picture of the person we are looking for.
• Before 1837, I can use parish records where they exist. There are also miscellaneous records, such as militia rolls, tax rolls etc, available from County records offices.

Please take time to look through the things I have found by dipping into my case studies. Just click the “Singer” or “Blackwall” buttons on the top bar. .

Of course all things take time. I have probably spent many hundreds of hours looking into my own tree and bought over 150 certificates to get exact information. I am not suggesting that you would want to spend this amount of time or money – you control your own budget and I will work within your requirements.

Guy