Genealogy Chat

Thanks for all your help folks - you are all really great. I am off to search some more sites now to see if I can find them I will keep you posted!! Christina

I suggest that you buy some units on the familyrelatives.org site where you can search for all marriage from 1866 to 1920 - by district too. I had a quick look and there are a fair number of John Potts - and nobody who married a Iving after 1912 so you can assume they married before 1912 (the reason for this is that the maiden name of the spouse is given for marriages post-1912). My guess is that they married in the Gateshead district looking at birth dates of children you mentioned. I'm pretty sure that Gateshead is not searchable but you could look at the likely candidates and then write to the Gateshead registrars and ask them to look at the likely ones and only send the one where the wife if Ann Iving (are you sure it's not Irving by the way?). Note that local registrars are not interested in the GRO reference but I think they find the quarter and year useful. Apart from the thread for newbies mentioned I would also recommend the info for beginners on the GC site. That's how I got started.

I have tried the 1901 census but couldnt find them. I suppose they could have married after 1901. There are a lot of John Potts in durham and I dont know which is him I have tried the Durham BMD site too but to no avail. Christina

Hi Christina. Durham has a very good free b-m-d sight easy to use i dont think its fully covered yet but i think its far easyer than my local staffs one. good luck Gill

Electoral rolls are in local records offices/local history centres. nell

Live and learn - nice one Jools... Farmers. Billaney Henry, Easonby farm (hind for Henry Barkworth, Esq.) Boothby Thomas, York grounds (hind for Jph. Thompson, Esq., of Wauldby) Caley Henry (hind for Joseph Thompson, Esq., Wauldby) Cowper Edward (hind for James Reckitt, Esq., J.P., Swanland manor) Dennett Saml. (hind for John Craggy, Skidby) Dunn Daniel, Swanland dale Dyson Henry Heron Mrs. Jane and John George, West field Lister Mrs. Elizabeth, Swanland dale Marshall Francis, North farm Mennell William, Braffords farm (hind for Captain John Burstall, Hessle mount) Westerdale John

You need to read my thread 'Tips for Newbies'. I have given it a nudge for you.

If Lewis was born 1915 and you have name of his father and maiden name of his mother, you should be able to search the 1901 census for them.

my father was called Lewis Potts - born in Chester Le Street in 1915. His fathers name was John Thomas Potts and mothers name was Ann Hodgson Potts (nee Iving). The address on birth certificate is Waldridge West Farms Waldridge, Chester le Street Durham. My father had a siblings: Hannah Potts born in Chester Le Street in 1917, and also Julia Potts born in Gateshead in 1920 and joseph in Gateshead in 1914. He also had a brother called JAck and a sister called Georgina who I havenot managed to trace yet. I thought it would be easy to trace the family once I had received the certificate -obviously not!! How can I access electrol rolls around the 1910 - 1920's Once I get to know grandparents dob's then I will be able to use the census. but I am really stuck at the moment ( I havent been doing this very long) Thanks everyone Christina

Farm hind is correct and not a mistranscription. It is an archaic word - a hind was a farm labourer Website with lots of the old jobs is here - http://www.cpcug.org/user/jlacombe/terms.html

Christine I suspect it should read 'farm hand', another word for agricultural labourer. Most of us have lots of them in our trees! As you now know the names of both your grandparents, I suggest you start by finding their marriage. That certificate would hopefully give their ages at marriage giving you a rough idea which year they were born, as well as their fathers' names, which you can use to check you have the right birth certs for them. You don't say when you father was born, but where he was born might be a clue as to where his parents got married. You might be able to find them in electoral rolls/street directories of the area, which will be in the local history studies centre/library/archive. Once you get back to 1901 you can look for the families on the census. nell

Christina Your next step would be to find your grandparents marriage now that you have both their birth names. This will give you their ages and the names of their fathers so that you can them go on and find their births Zoe

Hind is just a mistranscription of Hand I'd guess ... Give us some details to work with, I'm sure we can get you started !

Hi Finally recieved a copy of my fathers birth certificate from GRO. I thought this would make it esy for me to find my grandparents but....... how can i trace them if I dont have a date of birth? or area where they were born? I have tried Ancester and 1837 but to no avail. Also my grandfather is listed as being a farm hind. Can anyone enlighten me as to what this was? Christina