How far back have you got ?

[coombs]

I have leaped back a few generations on my Snell line. Thirza Snell born in 1853 in Marsh Baldon, Oxfordshire to John Snell born about 1660 in Gloucestershire. He had a son Charles in Meyseyhampton, Gloucs who had William born 1726 in Buckland, berks, who had William born 1750 in Brightwell, Berks to Richard born 1788 in Marsh Baldon, to William born 1820 in Marsh Baldon to Thirza born 1853 who wed in Oxford in 1878.

[Calverley Lad]

My earliest documented ancestor is one named Thomas recorded birth 1514, with baptism 1542 and death in 1556 at Calverley Parish Church.
 Parents names unknown and still looking?
 Brian

[polidor]

HeatherLynne & Tearose and anyone with London interests.

This of course may already be known to you but a website named-----

"London Gazette" has given me many snippets regarding some of my Middlesex/London ancestors.  poli

p.s one of my families always seemed to be appearing in the paper regarding bankruptcy !!

[HeatherLynne]

Thanks for that Polidor, yes I've got bankrupts in the London Gazette in my family too!   It also has details of people in other locations - for example my ancestors in Portsea, Portsmouth.  As it's a free resource it's definitely worth doing a few searches, never know what interesting snippets might turn up 

Thanks for reminding me about that site, it's been a while since I looked on there, probably got some new family names to try in the search box 

Heather

[behindthefrogs]

Thats the easy bit.  Adam and Eve because we are all descended from them.  It's establishing the links which are difficult.

I am having difficulty in establishing whether Petronius Probus Roman Consul in 322 was the son of Anicius Faustus Paulinus Preatorian, Prefect of Lower Moesia in 230 and his wife Sextia Cocceia, or of Sextus Cocceious Vibianius a senator in 204 and his wife Anicia Fausta

[pinefamily]

Well like most on here, my lines vary between the 1800's (the problem ones!), and the 1500's. I have a will dated 1585 for John Dowdeswell of Temple Guiting, and I have records from 1530 for John Pyne of Ottery St Mary when he purchased a property in Exminster.
I agree also that to find the "meat for the bones" is much more interesting; but there is still that eureka moment when you find that elusive connection, or that new ancestor. You can't beat it.
On my wife's side, I have been fortunate enough to make connections into the gentry, and from there, up the social scale. However, I try to stay in the realms of provable fact, and don't try and go past the 14 or 1500's. It is a fact that a lot of the pedigrees of the noble and gentry classes are a blend of fact and fiction.
With London ancestors, it seems easier to put the meat on now more than ever, what with sites like London Lives and ancestry's LMA parishes.

[Chusty]

I have just tried to register with London Lives but it refuses to recognise my email address is legitimate.
My email addy is a very simple one, just my name and ISP dot com.
Tried twice, checked it very carefully, very disappointed as I think this looks like an interesting database.

[Ringrose]

With the help of a book called The Quesnes of Jersey which contains all the family trees I ve probably gone back to 1400s but this is other peoples research.Again with maternal line in Jersey I have gone back to about the same time with the help of a web site called Jerripedia.
Again with the Roe family in Leicestershire at least to 1500s with the help of another researcher but I havent gone myself to the record office to check .
Its not a case of how far  back you can go ----what is frustrating is when you come to a brick wall in the mid 1800s and also researching the family in 20th century is hard.
Ringrose

[behindthefrogs]

However, I try to stay in the realms of provable fact, and don't try and go past the 14 or 1500's. It is a fact that a lot of the pedigrees of the noble and gentry classes are a blend of fact and fiction.

This is true of many pedigrees from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as well.  In fact probably 70% of the trees on ancestry suffer from imaginative links for which there is no proof.  It doesn't matter how far back you are working the rule of three primary sources of proof must be applied.  The most useful proof prior to 1800 is often property ownership or occupation.

Referring to a specific 17th century pedigree for the Edlin family which is used by a whole USA dynasty to show their descent from English gentry, the crucial link can be shown by reference to wills and property records to be through a bachelor who never married and had no progeny.

You can never rely on other peoples trees and pedigrees.  You must establish the proof yourself.