Genealogy Chat

Hi there I am tracing the Albones family and i have found most of their names through the census. I have found records of births and marriages. When I search for john albones and I find the the record of his marriage - how do I know WHO he married? Is this a stupid question? Where do I go from here now that I have exhausted all the census records? I know that my great great grandfather owned/worked in a shoe shop on mount pleasant rd in wallasey and I know that my great grandma was orphaned. any tips on tracing orphans and tracking down shoe shops would be great. Sam

Sorry, but the name Albones made me smile! A great name for your ancestors! With regard to the marriage of John....it depends a lot on the date as to how you would go about establishing the partner. (Obviously you could just buy the marriage cert, but there are several other ways of establishing the partner) What year was the marriage you saw? Orphans and shoe shops - again.....a lot depends on the dates involved! Merry

I can answer a couple of your questions. If you google historical directories you will get a site which gives access to trade directories where you should find shoemakers. The who married who is always a difficult question. Sometimes you just need to buy the certificate to be sure but usually the census helps if you have a marriage of Herbert Green and possible spouses Theodora Timms or Pandora Bloggs you can look at the next census to get his wife's christian name. It will also be in the children's birth cerificates. I am bumping up Grandpa Jim's tips for newbies thread which has more useful advice.

Hi Samantha, the best way to trace your family tree is to work backwards logically with known names i.e. grandparents. Birth cerificates will give parents names,census records give spouses names etc. You will get some false trails especially if the name you are searching has several people in the same area - but you will find the right ones if you persist. Happy hunting Hilary

You need to buy birth certificates to find out mums maiden names which will lead you to the marriage, then you buy that certificate to find out who the couples fathers were and take you a generation back. It will also give you more interesting info like their occupations, where they were living and the names of the witnesses. If you just rely on census info, all you will have really is a list of names without a real feel for the family. And it is very easy to guess that you have the right line but find out much later on that there were two Johns with wives called Sarah living in same town. Also without the wives lines then you are only really following one side of your ancestry, which isnt satisfying. Read the tips for newbies before you end up on the wrong trail!

Thanks everyone for your help. The shoe shop on mount pleasant road would have been from around 1901. The orphan I'm not sure possibly the same time... Thanks for the who married who adivce. Sam