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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: jacquelineve on Tuesday 26 May 15 13:34 BST (UK)
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Are there any more like me...who just cannot verify anything before this date?
1841 +1851 does sometimes help..but..?
Jackie
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Yes ??? I'm struggling too! I'm OK with baptisms/marriages of people mentioned in the early census returns, because I mostly know who they are, but as you say, before 1780, although I have loads of parish records, I have no verification of whether they are my ancestors or not. Even where parents are named, many had the same names, and sometimes it's just the father who gets a mention. Although the names I'm researching are not particularly common, they do appear in a number of local parishes, and it's very difficult to tease out who belongs to who ::)
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HAve you checked if any of the fathers left a will?
Not always, but often, the children are mentioned.
Plus they will invariably give the occupation of the deceased.
Happy hunting! ;)
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Don't restrict yourself to parent's wills. Wills written by childless aunts and uncles can be goldmines. I had a couple of such wills which confirmed familiy groups that I had tentatively sorted out using parish records.
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Thank you for replies!
My tribe(s) don't appear to be the kind of people who had anything to leave in a will!
Tempted by bapts/ marriages to say that they belong to me...but ..don't have anything to
correctly establish this... so sadly have to stop
Jackie.
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Never even thought of looking for wills, so thanks for the suggestion, though like you Jackie, I can't think that my lot had anything to leave either!
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Well - I am not sure which county you are looking at or occupations, but you could try looking at Historical Directories where most trades are listed.
Depending on the status of your ancestor in the community you could also try Electoral Rolls (or Citizen Rolls) and Rate books.
I love maps and if you can place the family in say 1841 you can see if there is mention of the land or your families home prior to this. They may even be named.
Were they part of an estate or estate workers? - try looking for information in the local Archive for the Estate owner
I am a huge fan of the Newspaper archives. You can glean quite a bit of information about the community even if it is not specifically about your family.
Sometimes if you have a couple of options with regard to an ancestor you may need to chase each family a bit to rule a possible family in or out of your research.
Start turning over stones - Military records? Militia? A spell in prison? Settlement certificates? Tithe records & maps? Did any family members immigrate/emigrate?
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Its a pain as a lot have n't got ages or marital staus listed that early and one line i have the register was n't clear but found baptisms i want but will be unlucky in respect to the marriage. I can find them in 1841 but not one of them born during civil reg. Surnames and first names common so other than my main line ancester being a daughter of a john and mary james and i can find forward from there, i may not be able to do anything with the others. Thats just one of mine. Trying to do an 8 generation line!!!!
jean