Question?

• Q:  WHY DO GENEALOGISTS DIE WITH SMILES ON THEIR FACES?

• A:  BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY ARE ABOUT TO GET ONE MOREDATE ON THEIR PEDIGREE CHART!!

YourInformation

Find itYourself

Known Relatives Information

Ask them

New relatives Information

Genes Reunited

BMDInformation

CensusInformation

ParishRegisters

Information

Other SourcesOf

Information

CENSUSES

CIVIL BMDRECORDS

About 1840

PARISHRECORDS

GENES REUNITED

GENUKI , FHS, GOONS, ETC

GOOGLE, ROOTSWEB and OTHER LISTS

Ancestry.co.ukLDS 1881

Findmypast.com

FreeBMDAncestry

Findmypast.comLocal BMD

sites

LDS Microfiche

LDS IGI / BVRI

1st son -- father's father 2nd son -- mother's father

3rd son -- father 4th son -- father's eldest brother 1st daughter -- mother's mother 2nd daughter -- father's mother

3rd daughter -- mother 4th daughter -- mother's eldest sister

Naming Patterns in England 1700-1875

Naming Patterns in England, 1700-1875

• Younger children would be named after earlier ancestors, but the pattern in their case was more varied.

• One variation from the above was for the eldest son to be named after the mother's father and the eldest daughter after the father's mother. In this case the second son would be named after the father's father and the second daughter after the mother's mother. Occasionally the second son and daughter would be named after the father and mother instead of the third son and daughter. Another variation was to name the third daughter after one of the great-grandmothers instead of after the mother. In such a case, the fourth daughter would usually be named after the mother.

What’s in a Name?• One of the best aspects of genealogy research is learning

some of the names my ancestors saw fit to bestow upon their children. When I first started and I found my 4th g grandfather Micah and his sister Silence, I was fascinated.

• Some names just jump out at you. My current favourites are:Clotilde LeGrand (1st cousin twice removed)Bezaleel Howe (b.1750 MA,d.1825 NY - 4th g grand uncle) (his son was also Bezaleel)Ignatius Malloy (b. after 1845 - 1st cousin 3 times removed)

and my winner... S. Imogene Addison (b. abt 1820 - 1st cousin 4 times removed.) I think that the "S" was for Silence...

Girls Names

• Polly is Mary Anne (or Mary)• Sally is Sarah• Tillie is Matilda• Nellie is Ellen or Eleanor or Helen• Peggy or Meg oe Maggie or Molly is Margaret• Patty is Martha, not Patricia until c1920• Bessie, Lizzie, Libby, Betty, Beth, Liza is Elizabeth (or

Eliza)• Dolly is Dorothy• Cissie might be Cicely, but is often Sister

Family history research.......

A seventh-grader and her 80-year-old grandfather are allegedly the first people to discover that President Barack Obama is related to all other U.S. presidents except one. Bridge Anne d'Avignon, showed that Obama, and all other U.S. presidents except Martin Van Buren, are related to King John who signed the Magna Carta.

Following the female line...

• “It may have been the curiosity of their surname that brings people into family history research. We tend to spot our name when we come across it.

• The trouble with women is that they change their names, often with depressing frequency.

• All in all, women are awkward people to fit into family trees.”

Most Common Mistakes in Genealogy Research

• Not using family group sheets and pedigree charts. • Not contacting relatives for assistance. • Assuming that "no one else is working on my line." • Not using maps of the area at the time your ancestors

were living there. • Not knowing the history of the area in which you are

conducting research. • Not using common sense when reading family histories.

If a source for information is not listed, be cautious about accepting it. Some information may be hearsay.

• Gathering information on everyone with "that" surname, unless it is an uncommon one.

Most Common Mistakes in Genealogy Research

• Not using primary sources - land, probate, church, county records - but relying on printed histories. NOTE: Many primary & secondary records are becoming available online.

• Not making photocopies. • Not making a master copy. Leave the master copy at

home when you travel to do research and take a duplicate with you.

• Not organizing your records. • Not paying attention to clues your ancestors might have

left. • Assuming that your surname is never spelled a different

way. • GIVING UP!!

Ancient Parishes

• Cornwall 206• Durham 113• Kent 408• Lancashire 62• Lincolnshire 630

• London 101

• Norfolk 691• Oxfordshire 280• Somerset 482• Surrey 140• Wiltshire 304

• Norwich 35

• Exeter 19

Ancient parishes

Someone living in Hainford, Norfolk walking three miles in various directions could reach 12 other parishes

Finding Parish Records

• The best website for finding where a specific parish register is likely to be stored is probably the Society of Genealogists. Not many parishes have published their record details, but it is always worth trying Google. A growing collection of sites which should not be ignored is the on-line Parish Clerk which for a number of counties offers transcripts of the parish registers. Last, but not least is the IGI at Family Search.

Top 10 Indicators that you've become a GENE-AHOLIC

• You introduce your daughter as your descendent. • You've never met any of the people you send e-mail to, even

though you're related. • You can recite your lineage back eight generations, but can't

remember your nephew's name. • You have more photographs of dead people than living ones. • You've ever taken a tape recorder and/or notebook to a family

reunion. • The local genealogy society borrows books from you. • The only film you've seen in the last year was the 1880 census

index. • More than half of your CD collection is made up of marriage

records or pedigrees. • Your elusive ancestor has been spotted in more different

places than Elvis!

DNA testing

• CANNOT provide you with your entire family tree or tell you who your ancestors are.

• CAN – Determine if two people are related – Determine if two people descend from the same

ancestor – Find out if you are related to others with the same

surname – Prove or disprove your family tree research – Provide clues about your ethnic origin

Brick Walls

• Genealogy brick walls often fall into one of two categories:– There seems to be no suitable candidate for

an ancestor in the records.. Where have they moved to?

– There are too many candidates for an ancestor in the records.. Oh for an uncommon first name or surname!

Brick Walls

Remember that keeping parish registers did not end with the introduction of civil registration (England 1837, Scotland 1855, Ireland 1864) So if you cannot find a Birth Marriage or Death civil record record, see if there is a parish baptism, marriage or burial record.

Overcoming brick walls

• Review what you already have• Go back to the original source• Broaden your search• Question and verify all assumptions and data• Check name variations• Check boundaries• Look sideways• Ask for help

Questions to researchers

• Someone wrote and said, “I’m interested in tracing part of my family tree—my mother’s and father’s side only.”

• Another person wrote, “Please send me some record and document on where I came from and how.”

• Someone telephoned an LDS library and asked the librarian if she could find her ancestors in the microwave [what she really meant was the microfilm].

Lose a few members from a family at one time?

• A cholera epidemic in 1831-2 caused 32,000 deaths. One in 1848-9 caused 52,000 deaths

• In 1918 some 225,000 died in Britain from a “Spanish flu” pandemic that reportedly killed 50-100 million people around the world. This was 3-7 times the casualties of the first world war

International standards

• In 1752, England and her American colonies changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendarGregorian calendar

• The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, on 24 February 1582

• In the same year, the date the new year began was changed. Prior to 1752 it was 25 March; this was changed to 1 January

• Many other European countries had already made the calendar changes before England, sometimes centuries earlier. By 1751 there was an 11 day discrepancy between the date in England and the date in other European countries