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HI IM TRYING TO FIND FAMILY FROM MY FATHER'S SIDE OF MY FAMILY. HIS NAME IS MICHEAL JOHN KNOTT, HE WAS BORN IN THE 1948'S IN WEST SUSSEX. ALL I KNOW IS THAT HE GRANDMOTHER LIVED IN PETWORTH WEST SUSSEX MOST OF MY LIFE. PLEASE HELP ME TO TRACE DOWN MY FAMILY

Beverley -- first, unlock that capitals key! It is too hard to read a message all in capitals.

Did your dad die in 2005? Someone by that name who was born in 1945 died in Sandwell district that year. If that is him, were you not in contact with him at the time? Or had he been out of contact with his own family?

(I assume that when you typed "the 1948's" you meant "the 1940s".)

It that is your dad, these are the details of his birth registration:


Jul-Sep quarter, 1945
KNOTT Michael J.
mother's surname: Knight
district: Oldbury
volume: 6c
page: 103


With those details, you can order his birth certificate, to get his parents' full names (which I assume you don't know), by going here:

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates


If your dad is still living -- which would be better, of course! -- then that information doesn't apply to him. If he is still living, are you in contact with him, and can you ask him things like his mother's name and grandmother's name? What about your mother? Asking people is the best way to get this kind of information about people in this century.

If your dad was born in the 1940s, then his grandmother (it is *his* grandmother who lived in Petworth, right? Proofread!!!) would have been born in 1900 or earlier, most likely. But you need first to know what his parents' names were, in order to find her name and other grandparents' names -- is she his mother's or his father's mother?

You don't know whether he had brothers or sisters? Do you know when he married? It might be that someone in his family was a witness to his marriage, and you could get their names from the marriage certificate. His marriage certificate would give you his father's name, too. Was he married to your mum?

This isn't prying! This is getting you to think about all the information you actually have that could help you find family, and how to get information that you need, to do that.

If you can post all the information you have -- anything like I've suggested here -- someone will certainly help you by looking up whatever details can be found in official records.