Genealogy Chat

Hi i am going to go to my local library tomorrow where all of the family tree details are kept. I am going to ask if they have a Kellys directory and try and search for my mums dad (Ralph Donovan Williams) he was born in Boston and believed to have lived in Boston all of his life. Will i be able to go through all of the kellys directory street by street to find him? Also he had another child efore he met my mums mum, would i be able to find him on there if i traced his mother until he would be approximately 18. All i know is that her brother is called Colin. I know my mum was born in 1958 so he would of been born a little while before that. Am i dreaming that i could actually find out this information? If not has anyone got any advice? I am also going to get some family tree books whilst there has anyone got any recommendations? Thanks Jen

Do you know what your local library stocks? For instance my local one has virtually nothing in it but the one in town has a local studies section. Also most of the info is held at our archive centre.

are you local to Boston? if not you maybe unlucky have you tried kellys directories on line? As for books , some are harder going that others and depends on what you know and how deep ypu want to go- the one produces by the BBC for the 'who do you think you are ' is very readable jess

He will only be in the Kelly's directory when he became a householder. If his surname was more unusual then I would say you could make a note of all the family addresses and then check the electoral roll for a date when he was past 21 years and see where he lived. If he was still living with his parents then you might pick up their names. But there may be a lot of Williams families to check and he might not have lived with his parents by the time he was old enough to vote. it all depends what you want to know.........If you are just starting tracing your family back you would usually begin with Birth Marriage and Death records which can be traced online. Merry

most Kelly's directories have a street index i.e. names listed by address and then a sepearate name listing done by surname although - quite often the name listing will be just for businesses word of warning - I've come a cross a few where the streets aren't done alphabetically but they take the largest street e.g. The High Street and then the smaller streets are done in teh order they come off of that one - as if the person compiling it was walking along and writing down what streets he found. Just in case you can't find y our street Zoe

Thanks for your reply. I only know that the library does Local papers and census on microfilm. Jess I live in Boston so i can have plenty of trips to the library or around this area if needed which is really helpful. Merry I would love to find my mums half brother and hopefully one day (maybe a couple of years) however long it takes me would like to contact him. Do you think if i could find my grandads marriage to his wife before my grandma and then look for birth around that time and found some Colins i might be able to find him that way? Many thanks Jen

First you need to find the marriage of your grandparents. Then work back until you find your grandfather's first marriage. Once you have his first wife's surname then you should be able to find Colin's birth between the two marriages (fingers crossed). Merry

Jennifer, maybe you should start with your grandparents marriage. You'd then have an address to work on (though of course they are likely to have moved on marriage - though not necessarily). Then maybe you could track the births of their children - which would also give addresses which you could then search for in the directories/electoral rolls. Do visit the library, though - they are usually very helpful with local studies enquiries. Best wishes, Jacquie

Thanks Merry i am searching for the marriages now. Fingers crossed i may find something and find that missing person in my mums life. When she was younger it was forbidden to talk about him in the house. I think my gran never wanted to admit that he had a former life due to her. I will let you know if i find anything. Thanks Jen

Do you think if i asked my gran where Ralph lived before they met it would be rude as somethings she clams up on but if i don't mention his son surely she wouldn't realise what i am doing. Then i can double check that he has lived in Boston all his life. Jen