Genealogy Chat

Thanks Karen I'll get a copy of my grandparents' marriage certificate and see where I get from there. I don't know anything about my Grandmother (she died before I was born) and no-one on my Dad's side talks about her. The only information I have managed to get so far comes from my mum, who doesn't really know much - apparently my Grandmother's family were never talked about. Thanks again. Katrina

If you get your grandmothers marriage certificate it should give her parents which means you will be able to order her birth certificate. Would she have put her birth parents on or her adoptive parents? Someone may correct me but I think it would be clear whether the birth certificate was an original or an adoption one, which would at least confirm whether she was adopted or not. Karen

Thanks for all the advice. I didn't think about searching death certificates for my great grand-fathers' parents. Any idea on where to look for a pre-1927 adoption. I don't mind whether it is looking at birth or adoptive parents but on the birth register I can't find her because all I know is her date of birth and adopted name. Katrina xx

Katrina - I'm no expert but I would start with your grandparent's marriage certificate which will give you their parents so that you can work backwards. Try to collect as many certificates as you can find or afford ie. birth & death aswell each one could offer a clue. Hopefully the marriage certificates and death certs will give ages to help to work out the birth date. Karen

Katrina I would second Julie's advice - go from what you know to what you don't know. Certificates will help you back to the 1901 census and will hopefully enable you to work out who is related to whom. For more info, scroll down the homepage on this website until you find Genealogy Resources - and read the section 'Getting Started'. nell

Katrina I would start by obtaining birth certs for those you know, by obtaining those it wil provide many other leads for you to follow up Julie

Hi! I have only recently started researching my family tree, but I have found serious brick walls and don't know where to go. If anyone can offer any advice on one or more I'd be very grateful: (1) My grandmother was, according to my mother, adopted but she's dead and no-one knows anything about her family, adoptive or birth. I know her date of birth, but as she was born in 1924 and pre-public adoption, I don't know where to look. (2) I think I have found a great-grandad in the 1901 census, but no-one in my family can confirm it. The only thing I know is he would have had a sister but she wasn't there so may not have been born yet, but I don't have a clue when she would have been born (and no-one in my family remembers). (3) Another great-grandad was, at the time of the census living with his grandmother and aunt and uncles, but there is no mention of his parents. No-one in my family can remember anything other than names, and I can't find them in the census, so stuck as to where to go. Thanks for any help you can give, Katrina