Any HANDS in Worcestershire

[Yegvard]

Hi Folks,

I have a number of branches to my HANDS tree, in Redditch, Tardebigge, Bromsgrove, & Kings Norton - as well as foreign places like Birmingham and South Africa.    Although not all my research, my main line goes back to about 1580.

I also have a number of trees of other HANDS families - can be very complicated to sort out sometimes. 

If any body has any interest at all in HANDS I would be willing to help in any way I can.

Mike

[Dazhands1971]

Hi Mike

I don't know if you can help me at all?

My Great Grandfather was James Frederick Hands – born in April 1874 in Coventry but through looking at census documents, it appears when his father died, his mother took the family back to London where he later enlisted in the Royal Marines.
 
His father was also called James, born I think around 1850 in Birmingham and who was married to Martha Taylor.
 
James father was called John and was I think married to Ann (Bailey?).  He was born in 1826 and was a Gun Stoker as was his father, James Hands (b 1790) who was married to a Sarah Povey.
 
If my research is correct, going back, there was before him, William Hands (married to Anne Crumpton), William Hands (married to Mary Eldridge) and Joseph Hands (married to Jane?) - taking the tree back to the early 1700's

Are you able to help trace this line back any further?

Its interesting that I have met via Rotary, two people called Hands (father and son, Chris and Roy) who come from Coventry but we can find no link and my old headmaster was called (Clifford – not his christened name, he changed it for some reason after WW2) Hands, again from Coventry but we can find no link between our families or of Roy and Chris.
 
Many thanks for any help you can provide
 
Kind regards
 
Darren Hands
Plymouth

[Yegvard]

Hi Darren,

Sorry, none of your names mean anything.  We've previously been in contact.  Warwickshire probably has about 4 times the number of HANDS as Worcestershire.  There are also HANDS in the Home Counties.

You sound a little unsure of your data.  From 1837, when certificates became available, you really must have certificates of your direct ancestors.  Or failing that church records for marriages, which usually works out cheaper if they on-line.  Index records are not accurate enough although they can be used to exclude people.  Pre-1837 you get what you get from church records, in the main.  Don't forget wills and probate and various tax returns which place people geographically at a set point in time.

You probably need to access the Berkshire county baptism index.  FamilySearch may prove useful, but you never know how complete it's records are.  If you are lucky you may find parish registers in CD form or on-line.

Regards

Mike