Find Ancestors

This topic is intended as a helpful introduction to make sure you get the best results from your lookup requests. Please take the time to read it, all the way to the bottom as more stuff gets added. If you have any tips you'd like to add just add them. If you think theres something else I need to add advice on, let me know :) Please keep bumping this up for people to read! Thank you

Contents :- 1)General Lookup Advice 2) How to nudge up a topic 3) Census Lookups 4) Lost Topic? 5) Hints and Tips for posting 6) Surnames 7) Births, Marriages and Deaths 8) Certificates 9) Parish Records Lookups 10) IGI 11) General Genealogy Advice 12) Search Engines 13) Thank you! 14) Dates 15) Important Notices - regarding recent lookup requests etc. 16) Searches Before 1837

GENERAL LOOKUP ADVICE 1) Decide what it is you need looking up. Its no good just posting a name and hoping for any old information. Do you want to find their death? their birth? their marriage? a specific census entry? 2)Check that someone hasn't already offered the lookup you're asking for. There are usually a few ancestry topics etc. and some people have access to specific census returns. Use the search box to look for topics. 3) Always make sure you put the area that your person is in in the title to your post, e.g. 1871 census Wakefield lookup! . A lot of researchers can only help with certain parts of the country and so look at those posts first. 4) Give as much information as you can about the person(s) you want us to look for. A name is not enough! 5)Let us know what you've already tried looking at, what you've found and discounted and anything that might stop us re-doing research you've already done. It means you get the answers you are looking for. 6) Above all, be patient :) Like all boards there are busy times and not so busy times. It may take a few hours or a day or two to get an answer, but most topics will be answered! If you're worried that your message hasn't been seen, read below to find out how to nudge your post so that its back at the top of the board. 7) Always say thank you :) People are more likely to be helpful and friendly again if you do. 8) Be aware that some of the websites that people ask for lookups on are not actually free. For example if you have failed to find a birth, marriage or death on FreeBMD and you ask someone to do a lookup for you on the 1837online website, it costs 40p per page! So when someone asks for a 10 year period to be searched it wil cost somewhere in the region of £16 (40p per page, per quarter, and there are 4 quarters in the year)! For the 1901 census images cost 75p etc. So please think before you ask someone to spend lots of money when you can sign up to these websites and search yourself.

HOW TO NUDGE A TOPIC Sometimes topics don't get answered because it was busy or because the person who can help you wasn't around when you posted it. If you feel your topic hasn't been answered, rather than post a new topic, you need to 'nudge' it to the top. Heres how Add a reply to your topic. Most people will send a message along the lines of 'nudge' or 'bump'. By adding a new message you have put your topic back at the top of the list again. Now go back to your topic and find your message which says 'nudge' or 'bump' or whatever it was you used. Click on the delete message option at the top of that message. On the next screen click the delete box underneath the box with your message in. You of course don't have to delete the message, but some people feel this makes the topic tidier. Why not test out this new found skill by bumping this topic up for others to read? :)

CENSUS LOOKUPS Heres some tips for getting a response to your census query. 1) Make sure you put which census you want the lookup for in the subject bar, along with which area you're wanting the lookup in, e.g. 1891 census Leeds. Just putting 1861 census lookup often isn't enough to make people look. 2) Give the full name of the person(s) you're looking for. Also include (if you know it) the year they were born, where they born, their last known occupation, their last known address. Also make it clear where in the country you expect that person to be. 3) If you've found the person(s) in other census returns it can sometimes help to tell people about it. 4) Be reasonable in your request. Some names are more common that others and so even just giving the likely county they will be in isn't enough. If you can't give a lot of information, don't worry. Make it clear on your topic that you don't know any more that what you have already given. 5) Be patient. Few census returns are indexed either by name or address and so it can involve a lot of searching. 6) Always say thank you :) 7) The 1861 census is one of the least accessible as few indexes have been produced for it. Therefore it is the 1861 census requests that are the hardest to find info for. 8) Please remember that some lookups will cost the kind person doing the lookup for you! For example the 1901 census is free to search but to see the images it costs. Beaware of this when asking for lookups. ______________________________________________ Message originally posted by Lyla :- Census information (taken from the Getting Started section on your home page). The first true census was taken in 1841, enumerating everyone by name, with adults' ages rounded down to the nearest five years and stating whether each person was born in their county of residence. From 1851 to 1901 they include names, ages and places of birth. Ages and birth places may be recorded incorrectly but usually they can lead you straight back to the right baptism register. The dates of the censuses were 6 June 1841; 30 March 1851; 7 April 1861; 2 April 1871; 3 April 1881; 5 April 1891 and 31 March 1901. They can be searched at the Family Records Centre (see above). The 1901 census is fully indexed at www.census.pro.gov.uk and the 1881 census is indexed at www.familysearch.org. Those for Scotland are at New Register House. Those for Ireland only survive for 1901 and 1911 and are at the National Archives, Dublin, with copies at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. __________________________________________________ Originally posted by Benjamin Caine :- On the subject of censuses, ages werent always accurate, of course, and some people just didnt know exactly how old they were. Also birthplaces were also unreliable, and sometimes people didnt know exactly where they were born and were bought up in a different part of the country to where they were born and put their birthplace as where they grew up. Also if you find an ancestor who was married under the mums maiden name and the father married the mother a few months later, it is possible the man who the mother married might not of been the child's real father. ___________________________________________________ Originally posted by Lesley M :- Before asking for census lookups, check to see whether they are available online to search yourself. The 1881 and 1901 censuses for England (and Wales?) are available to search free of charge: 1881: www(.)familysearch(.)org 1901: www(.)census(.)pro(.)gov(.)uk (remove brackets) If you are unable to find them yourself, or need more help (such as images for the 1901 census), make sure you include as much information as possible in your request. If you have not managed to find the people you are looking for, include what details you have been searching (eg spelling variations, place of birth etc). If you have found who you are looking for in the 1901 census and would like the image of the household, include the details you have found - it makes it a lot easier for someone else to locate the right person again.

Message originally submitted by Richard Platell GC - LOST THREAD? If you "lose your thread", i.e. a thread that you either created or on which you have posted a request has dropped off the first few pages of the board, then click on the "view your threads only" link (located on the right towards the top of the board). The board will then show only the threads which you have created or to which you have added a message. Then, when you have found and opened the required thread, click on the "All Replies" link to see other people's subsequent messages on that thread. If you feel that your query hasn't been resolved, then "nudge" the thread as explained above. If you have received any responses (whether helpful or not!) , then add a short message to let others know that you've at least seen the response (this will also nudge the thread back up the board, serving 2 purposes at once!).

HINTS AND TIPS FOR POSTING Message originally submitted by Lyla :- If you have a lengthy request, no matter how nicely you set it out it will still bunch up and look horrible when you post it. The best way round this is type a very simple note such as "See Below". Then you can reply to your own thread and set it out clearly. _____________________________________________ Message Originally submitted by Lyla :- Just one more thing I'd like to add which really helps the people doing lookups. If some information has been found for you, please say whether it is relevant or not on your thread. (you can still send a personal reply as well if you feel the need). Sometimes there are lots of people searching on your behalf who would like to know the outcome even if they werent able to post the answer first. Also, if you start a new thread about the same family as in a previous thread, please mention what information has already been found for you so that people dont keep repeating the same lookups. _______________________________________________ Message Originally submitted by Heather in North Warwickshire :- Please check your old threads because sometimes additional information has been added AFTER you've posted your thankyou message

SURNAMES If you know that there are a few different spellings of the surname you're looking up that have been used, be sure to provide them as possible alternatives! You never know when they will crop up under one spelling or another!

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS Civil registration did not begin until late 1837. Before this time births, marriages and deaths can all be found in the parish records. You cannot get certificates before civil registration begins. For the purposes of civil registration the year is split into 4 quarters.These 4 quarters are called March quarter, June, quarter, September quarter and December quarter. Each quarter covers registrations in the two months before the month after which the quarter is named as well as that month e.g. March quarter covers registrations in January, February and March. Only marriages that occur after civil registration begins will have details of married couple's address, age, occupation and father's names and occupations. Parish marriages before civil registration only list the couple's names and the day they married. Parish burials only give the name of the deceased, their age and where they were living (usually only the village). Sometimes you can be lucky and the reason for their death is added along with other titbits, but this is rare. Even after the introduction of civil registration not all births, marriages and deaths were registered despite fines and other incentives :) Late registration does occur and so your ancestor might be in a different quarter from the one you expect! If you can't find the birth of an ancestor it might be that they were illegitimate. Illegitimate children were often registered under their mother's name. Of full age on a marriage certificate means that the person was 21 or over. Be careful when using ages from marriage certificates. Brides in particular would pretend to be older than they were to get married! As a general rule of thumb when trying to work back how old a bride or groom might have been if they have lied is to work out a rough age range that they could be. The youngest they are likely to be is 16. It was however legal for girls aged 12 and boys aged 14 to marry back in the 19th century! IMPORTANT!!! MUST READ FOLLOWING!!! BEFORE asking for a BMD lookup always check FreeBMD and/or Ancestry first, these two sites cover 1837 - 1910, but are not complete: the addresses are as follows: http://www.ancestry(.)com http://fre ebmd.rootsweb(.)com remove brackets from both addies! There are also BMD sites such as LancashireBMD, CheshireBMD and others, which cater 1837 onwards for the county specified. If a lookup on those few sites fail to find what your looking for then you need to try 1837online: http://www.1837online(.)com .. remove brackets 1837 is a pay per view site, free to register and then you need to purchase minimum £5 credit. For this you get 55 units. You need 4 units to search 4 qtrs of each year, so £5 covers at least 12 years. Always check for yourself before asking others, and remember, lookups after 1910 COST !

CERTIFICATES The only way of getting information about an entry in the GRO records is to send off for that certificate. A birth certificate will contain the following information :- Date & place of birth Child's name and gender Father's name (if available) Father's occupation (if available) Mother's name and maiden name Mark or signature of informant A marriage certificate will contain:- Date & place of marriage Groom's name, age, stauts (e.g. Bachelor or Widower), occupation and address Groom's father's name and occupation Bride's name, age, status (e.g. Spinster or Widow), occupation and address Bride's father's name and occupation Names of 2 witnesses and their mark or signature A Death certificate will contain:- Date and place of death Deceased's name, gender and age Deceased's occupation (or the occupation of nearest relative e.g. father or spouse and their relationship to the deceased) Cause of death and whether or not a doctor was present Signature, description and residence of informant Date when death was registered Certificates are only available after the start of civil registration You can order your certificates here http://www.gro.(gov.u) k/gro/ (content)/ Costs for ordering certificates can be found here http://www.gro.gov(.) uk/gro/(content) /births/(obtainingbirthcertificates) /certificatefees(.asp) Remove the brackets for the address

PARISH RECORD LOOKUPS Please be specific about which church and which parish you want lookups doing in! Some towns and cities have more than one church and so trying to find the information will be difficult. Just put what you know and if you don't know anymore, put in your original request that that is all the information you have. One way of finding out a parish might be by ordering a marriage certificate to see if the couple were using a specific church. Another way is by taking note of the parish under which the family were living in the nearest census to the period you're interested in. This is usually in the top right hand page of the census return. Originally posted by Lysianne Egan :- One thing I'd like to say about Parish Records, though, is that I've found them quite variable, and while I'd agree that you generally get a lot less info than on the standardised post-1837 certificates, I think quite a lot depended on the person who recorded the information in the register pre-1837. I have had some really helpful entries from NW Oxon, including baptisms of illegitimate children pointing the finger (whether rightly or wrongly) at certain gentlemen of the parish, records of the banns being interrupted by outraged mothers, and all sorts, so you might just strike lucky with something really juicy...

IGI - Although the familysearch.org webiste is an incredibly useful website, users should be aware of one or two things. First of all it is NOT a complete database of parish records. It holds no parish burial records and some churches have withheld their records from the Mormon church who set up this website. Not only that but not all parish records that they do have have been transcribed. Watch out for patron submissions! These are not always accurate (they don't need to be for the purposes they were made). Always check the source of the record you're interested in so you can check it up or mark it as suspect. To do this click the word 'Source' at the bottom of the record and read what it says.

GENERAL GENEALOGY ADVICE Originally posted by Benjamin Caine :- Here are also a few other genealogy tips and hints. Never be thrown off balance by inconsistencies in names or ages especially in censuses or marriage certs. ie, the surname Knott might of been transcribed as Nott, and if for example, you think you ancestor was James Knott, born in 1850 in Holborn, London, but there is no record of a James Knott born in 1850 in Holborn but there is of a James Nott, dont discard that entry, as it was in the old days the case of spell it as you hear it. Also someone who was bought up by their uncle might of put their uncles name as their fathers name on marriage cert, and someone called Tom Smith might of been known as John Edwards. And if you cannot find an ancestor in a particular census, the it could be it was mistranscribed, your ancestor was abroad, or the enumerator simply missed the house or street they were living down, or the census page for that street is missing itself. That has happened to me in 1861 London census. Originally posted by Sarah MacLean :- Another tip which would help you is, know what you want! Its all very well having a name and wanting to know everything about that person, but the truth is you won't. Also, where do you start? There are so many records that might be of use to you! What you really need to do is when you have someone you want to know more about, make a list of what you have on a piece of paper. Do you have their baptism? marriage? burial? If the person was around after 1837 maybe theres a birth, marriage or death certificate you can get for them. Added to that there are census returns, electoral registers, trade directories etc that might be of use. Were they in the army? navy? airforce? Were they in a profession that might have had registers, such as minutes from meetings or union records? Was the person ever in the poor house? Have you found maps to look at for the addresses you know they were at? The list is endless! You must always start with what you know! When you've made a list of what you have, make a list of what you want on a piece of paper. Be specific with yourself! Once you know what you want, find out if its possible to get records in regards to that. Then you're ready to start asking for lookups :) Originally posted by Rosalyn Barclay :- I don`t think you mentioned the Scottish Records office -.www.scotlandspeople .gov.uk-very good site. Rosalyn

SEARCH ENGINES Originally posted by Brenda Borrows :- I've found a mountain of useful information by the use of a search engine. There are lots of websites out there with the information already researched on some of our names. I 'google' to find them. The information doesn't necessarily appear at first attempt - so keep trying - perhaps enter the county, or the family name along with the words 'family history' using different variations. Some info. is hidden within other pages. some of the family history societies are goldmines. Then there are the pages with old occupations, lost streets, immigrant ships - so many wonderful sites, with such a wealth of information. It really is worth just playing around on a search engine and seeing what is out there.

THANK YOU! A big thank you everyone who has contributed to, nudged and recommended this topic! Please feel free to continue adding comments/advice etc :) Would love feedback on the new layout! If I could ask people to remember to delete the 'nudge' messages though please :) If the topic/thread looks too long people will be put off reading it! Thanks :)

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IMPORTANT NOTICE! I've been asked to add the following because of the recent spate of BMD lookups, so please read! BEFORE asking for a BMD lookup always check FreeBMD and/or Ancestry first, these two sites cover 1837 - 1910, but are not complete: the addresses are as follows: http://www.ancestry(.)com http://fre ebmd.rootsweb(.)com remove brackets from both addies! There are also BMD sites such as LancashireBMD, CheshireBMD and others, which cater 1837 onwards for the county specified. If a lookup on those few sites fail to find what your looking for then you need to try 1837online: http://www.1837online(.)com .. remove brackets 1837 is a pay per view site, free to register and then you need to purchase minimum £5 credit. For this you get 55 units. You need 4 units to search 4 qtrs of each year, so £5 covers at least 12 years. Always check for yourself before asking others, and remember, lookups after 1910 COST ! ____________________________________________________ I've been asked to add this message because of the recent spate of lookup requests that cannot be looked up Lookup requests before 1837 and after 1910 are very very difficult to do and cost money! Pre-1837 BMD lookups can only be done in parish records which are difficult to get hold of (see Pre 1837 searches message below). Post 1910 BMD lookups require the use of the pay to view website www.1837onlin(e.c)om . It costs £5 for 50 credits.

SEARCHES BEFORE 1837 In the second half of 1837 general registration of births, marriages and deaths began in England and Wales. Before this point your only source of birth, marriage and death information is from parish records. Lookups in parish records can be quite difficult sometimes as some villages did not have their own church but travelled to the nearest one which could be anyone of 5 in different directions. Larger towns and cities often had more than one church and so pinpointing which the family might have used is difficult. Access to parish records is much more limited in comparison to the BMD registrations. Parish records are usually held in county record offices with some libraries around the country holding films of their local parish records. The LDS church can order films they hold for you to use in their centres too. There are very few online transcriptions of parish records. Beause of the difficulty in searching for parish records, its unlikely that your lookup requests will be answered. All you can do is 1) Contact the county record office of the area and find out if they do searches, how much it will cost etc. 2) Find out if there is a library near to (or in) the place that you're looking at that has films of parish records and see if they will do a search 3) Find the time to visit the County Record Office or library with the films to do the research yourself 4) Find out where the nearest LDS family history centre is to you and if you can order the film you want and use it. Their list of worldwide centres is at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp and their catalogue of films is at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp They also hold films of a lot of different things so its well worth a search round their catalogue for a place to see what it throws up :)

As a novice at all of this, the advice given here is invaluable. Many thanks. Ellen.

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