Genealogy Chat

I am a novice at this but feel that my problem cannot be so different from anyone elses researching a family tree. i have a person and their father and mother. I want to know details of their father. He was born in late 1700s. If I check parish records for his children or his marriage they will not tell me where he was born. I have four possible people that may be him but I need to know where he was born or his parnts name. All I know is who he married and what children he had. He was probably born in a different area to where he was living with his families. I went to the Bracknell Fair todaay and they tried to check on the 1841 census but it was illegible and anyway aparently it would onl say of this county Kent. I needto find out where he was born. Is this clear? Georgina

Georgina - what names are you looking for?

Linda, In answer to your reply. I have a John Homewood who married a Jane and had several children. He lived in Horton Kirby, Kent. His wife died and he then married an Ann(e). She was still alive at the time of the 1951 census and from that I may get her birth town. I have a John Homewood born in Eastwell, Kent, Milton, Kent and eynsford, Kent. I do not know how to trace back to which one it will be as banns for a marriage did not need to be carriied out in the spouces parish until 1823. He married Ann I believe in 1812. Georgina

What got you back to the 1700's?. Suggest you go back step by step on certificates back to 1837. For example your birth cert will tell you your parents names and your parents marriage cert will tell you their parents names and where they married. Keep going back like that until you get to 1837, also using all the census back from 1901 to 1851. The 1841 Census only lists county so you need to have some idea of the part of Kent you are interested in.Then use the Phillimore Atlas to tell you which parishes you may be interested in in Kent. Eynsford is in a very different part of Kent to Milton so try to group areas close togeter, using the parish guide and a map of Kent to show you where all these areas are, then you can make some assumptions but do not wildly assume the same name all over kent belongs to your line! Have you easy access to Kent Record Office. If so try all the names in the parishes you are interested in to see if your John Homewood married an Ann? Janet

On Vital Records the earliest birth I have is John Homewood Birth 1797 Father William Homewood Mother Sussanna born 12 September Chislehurst Kent Mary

Thank you all for your replies. I have since been informed of John Homewooda age at death. It appears he was born around 1768 which would tie up with the birth of a John Homewood in Eynsford Kent. My feelings are I need to prove this. the 1841 census has been checked. I am now hoping that when I get details of Anne Homewood in the 1851 census I will get place of birth whcih will tie up the marriage. However banns did not need to be called in the spouces parish in 1812 so I am no where nearer to proving his palce of birth. Do people reseaching family trees have to work on assumptions. Georgina

The ideal is not to make any assumptions and to check all your certs and census back to 1841,which is your last chance of finding your relative in a county. If you are lucky and get them back to a village like Eynsford then it should be fairly easy to look at the parish records and take down all the names of interest in that place and put them into families when you get home. It all depends on how well you have done your homework prior to getting back to the parish records. All the certs going back from yourself strictly without using short cuts at this stage will ensure a tree that has been proven. Occasionally you may have to look at a situation and come to a conclusion but jumping from Eynsford to Milton I would say was a bit suspect knowing Kent as I do. If you are in a city or a big town then the job is harder but not impossible. Janet

Hi Janet, You were quite right. I had made assumptions that were completely wrong. Via the KFHS message board I got the age at death of the John Homewood I was looking for and I think now he is a John Homewood born in Eynsford which although I had found was the nearest to Horton Kirby I had ruled out because I thought he was too old. So many thanks for your advice. Georgina