Introduction

Welcome to My Family History the Start Website, which hopefully will introduce you to the magical world of finding, researching and tracing your families’ roots.

This website will be almost a course in what to do, and not to do as you follow what I have to offer each week. Appreciate that I had intended to start posting an article each week starting in December but unfortunately my internet connection was down and has only just been restored.

This first article is designed to give you a brief introduction into what I will be writing about over the coming weeks and months. At the moment I have over forty topics to discuss with you, this will be increased as I answer any in depth questions that you may have, thinking that a special article could be needed on your query.

Each week, at the end of the article, I will give you the subject of the one that I intend to write on the following week. However, must point out that this could be changed, depending on what comments and questions that you might wish me to answer.

In this article it will be necessary to mention some subjects and topics that will not only be the main feature in the future, but will no doubt be repeated as different subjects arise.

As mentioned above the article today is designed to give you a general insight on what is to follow in the coming weeks, with me being mindful of the fact that you will quickly become impatient to expand both your knowledge and your family tree.

Hence, the little taster this week of how you can increase your knowledge, with me hopeful, that you will continue to follow this site, and, as each article becomes in depth on that subject, no matter how far you have managed to reach as a result of this first article, then you will still be able to glean something from those that follow.

Before We Begin

As each year passes more and more people are researching their families past. Apart from being something that the whole family can get involved in, as you delve deeper it is surprising what surprises you can find.

One example is in the world of American Politics. Genealogists have discovered that George W Bush and his political rival John Kerry are distant cousins. If you have a sense of humour like mine then this should strike you as quite funny, to think that two men who were battling it out for the most powerful post in the United States of America, were in fact cousins.

It will come as no surprise to learn that you can find out a lot of things that are surprising, interesting and in some cases upsetting, as you follow the genealogical trail that is your family history. Be warned if you decide to hire a professional genealogist, they can be very expensive, the more that you use them, and the deeper they carry out the research for you. The upshot is, do you want a really fantastic family tree that has cost a small fortune? Or a nice family tree, that contains the same detail, if not more, that you have done yourself! This will give a lot more satisfaction at less cost.

Five Key Factors When Tracing Your Family History

As I mentioned in My About Me page, the correct term for those who trace their ancestors is known as genealogy, those who do the studying are known as genealogists. You will be aware that the idea is to collect or find the names of your both living and departed relatives.

It is important that the genealogist has an understanding of genealogical facts, just knowing who your parents and grandparents, are or where, is fine to start with, but you must be able to get back further. These five topics will help you to do just that.

Family Name

Some researchers use the family name (last name or surname) as their stepping stone, or starting point to begin their search. Logically you can begin with this once you have written down all that you know.

Usually the family name comes from the Father, but consider also the location of your ancestors, what their employment was, or even the nickname of the person themselves.

As we will discuss in later articles, it will help in finding the family name by seeing birth, marriage and death certificates. Also, use census returns and trade directories. Do be careful when using certificates, they are not always accurate. One of my ancestors has the name of his step-father shown as his father on his marriage certificate. The reason being that when the Vicar asked the groom for his father’s name, he replied “William”, the Vicar assumed that the surname was the same! It did cause me some grief until I went further back.

Where Located

Finding the place where your ancestors came from, that could be their surname, you may need to search land, court, vital, probate and estate records.

When recording locations, you must always start with the name of the village, hamlet or town followed by the county. I am assuming here that your search is in England, if in Scotland, Ireland or Wales then add the country.

For overseas follow a similar pattern, but please note it is not my intention for now to discuss ancestors located overseas.

First, Given or Christian Names

At one time the first name was not considered to be important, this view has now changed, today it is now considered to be an important tool when studying family history.

The first name is said to be a choice by parents to represent other members of the family. Naming patterns include:

The name of a son originated from the name of the paternal grandfather.

The name of a daughter originated from the maternal grandmother’s name.

My own first name is a continuation of five generations. (If I had known at the time my own son would have borne it as well.)

Date

When you find any dates which belong to one of your ancestors, be aware that they could refer to the birth, baptism, marriage or death of the ancestor whom you are researching. Make every effort to find out to which event they refer, otherwise it can throw future research out of the window.

The dates mentioned can be found in a number of records these include, church, bible, vital, census and military. Do not neglect to search newspapers, these can often contain vital snippets, not obtainable elsewhere. I have certainly found them to be of great use, giving me names that I was unaware of.

The International Genealogical Indexes (known as the IGI), can be of use, but do be wary of the information that they contain, it is not always accurate. It is my intention to discuss these Indexes in greater depth in a future article.

How Employed

Knowing the type of employment that your ancestor was engaged in can be a great help, especially where you have two similar names to decide which, is the one that was your ancestor.

The records mentioned in the section on dates often contain the employment of the person named.

Whilst the above five factors will assist you in finding your ancestors. It is important that you find out the fact regarding this information, to enable you to test its reliability.

Writing It Down or Recording Your Findings

It is considered easier to start with to write down what you have found in the form of a Pedigree Chart, I am including a free one for you to use in the next article. Some prefer to use a Family Group Sheet

Pedigree Chart

The majority of researchers tend to use this type of form. It begins with you and branches outwards, displaying your direct family line. Usually there is space for details such as, births, marriages and deaths. The one that I am giving you has space for five generations on one sheet. You can print out more and use them as continuation sheets as your research deepens.

Family Group Sheet

A common research form is the Family Group Sheet. Unlike the pedigree chart, this focuses on the family as a single unit. There is room on the sheet for the names of the couple, any children, with room to write down such details as, births, marriages, deaths and burial places of family. Space is included for the spouses of the children, should they marry.

When I first used these forms around thirty years ago, I found that on filling them in, that they were, indeed a most useful tool for those researching their ancestors. Keeping one family together they make it easy to refer to quickly, and can contain a large amount of information for each generation of ancestors.

If you get used to using these forms together, once a marriage has been entered on the pedigree sheet, then raise a family group sheet.

If you wish to race ahead, you can get copies of both forms online.

However, in Part Four I will be doing a review on a firm that I have used for a number of years, they do offer an excellent selection of material that you can use in your research.

If you have any comments about this article, we would love to hear from you. The time that you take to make them is very much appreciated.

The next article will be 2 – Getting Started Part One.

Be Happy, Healthy and Wealthy