[Solved] Standard fam. history procedure questions

[carol8353]

I shudder to think about costs pre internet access.....

Roger

Although I was born in London,I now live 70 miles away.

Back in the early days the nearest place you could view the full GRO indexes was the Family Record Centre in Clerkenwell,so I used to go down on a coach trip every 3 months or so.

I used my local Mormon research centre to get a lot of the early censues and to order in parish records.

[didactylos]

One thing, make sure you get a user friendly piece of software to record it all on. The amount of data you will build up means its a false economy to settle for some rubbish 'back of an envelope' system.

I marvel how anyone ever did this on rolls of wallpaper and file cards.....

These forums are great fro getting unbiased views on the software out there, but its what suits you best that is what is best to use.

Roger

[danuslave]

After 1911, the GRO indexes show the 'other spouse's' surname so you can often find the year, quarter, registration district, volume and page for the marriage.  From this you can buy a marriage certificate (if you want to), which should show their fathers names, and sometimes other family names as witnesses.

Before 1911, the indexes aren't cross-referenced.  So you look up each name separately in roughly the right area and time frame and try to find a pair that have the same year, quarter, registration district, volume and page.

If you only have the woman's first name (say from a census) you can still do this.  Find all instances of the man's name in the right area and time frame, then search by year, quarter, registration district, volume and page to see which women were married at the same time.  Obviously this is much easier if the names are unusual.  If you're looking for John Smith marrying someone called Mary in London you could be there for a long time!  

BTW if you do need England & Wales certificates, get them from the GRO

http://www.gro.gov.uk

or the register office where the event took place.  Other sites may offer them but they are often (very much) dearer!

Linda

[Darwinian]

Roger,

Have looked at a few programs and will probably go with RootsMagic5. Will probably purchase it but will use the free version for as long as it serves my needs. Thanks for the advice!

Linda,

Thanks very much for that info! Very helpful

[didactylos]

Advice comes from experience, I started with one and did a considerable amount of work, then realised it wasn't how I worked and have had to switch - the basic info comes across fine on a GEDCOM - but its all the media, pictures, scans, screenshots........ aaargh.

Make the right choice at the start and you don't end up backtracking.

Also, and this is very importnat, it may be for you, but its also for others - maybe even others not yet born - to use. So think about how it can be preserved for them to access.


Unless that is you want it to be as difficult a task as it has been for you - if they want to do their own tracing.

Roger

[ReadyDale]

Also, any paper info you obtain (certs, etc), scan it to your computer. Then make sure these and your Roots Magic (or whatever) file are backed-up regularly.

[didactylos]

Also, any paper info you obtain (certs, etc), scan it to your computer. Then make sure these and your Roots Magic (or whatever) file are backed-up regularly.

And if you are a born pessimist - I am - make sure the whole lot is backed up to a cloud somewhere. There are only two types of hard drives - those that are about to fail and those that have failed.....

And houses can burn down, be flooded, be destroyed by alien invasion.

My stuff is on my computer, on a separate hard drive and on the web, and is also on a cloud store somewhere.....


Roger

[danuslave]

As an example for you to practise on -

My great grandfather was called Frank Moxham and I knew he got married in Guildford, Surrey

Using FreeBMD  http://www.freebmd.org.uk

New Query

highlight  marriages
surname  moxham
first name  frank
district  Guildford
click on Find

gives one result (you will often get more)

Dec 1880  -  this means the December quarter ie Oct-Nov-Dec
Guildford    2a   82  -  which means Volume 2a, Page 82

New Query

highlight  marriages
Date range  Dec 1880 to Dec 1880
Volume/Page  2a / 82
district  Guildford
click on Find

gives

Evans     Elizabeth
Hart         Francis Frederic   
Hart         Mary
Moxham  Frank   

I knew that his wife was called Elizabeth, so he (probably) married Elizabeth Evans.  It's always a good idea to cross-check this from another source eg birth certificate or baptism of one of their children.

By elimination,  Francis Frederic Hart married Mary Hart (possibly a cousin)

You need to be aware that name spellings vary enormously and are sometimes transcribed as things you wouldn't believe (and it's these transcriptions you are looking at).  So be prepared to learn about wildcard searches and other 'tricks of the trade'.  If you are having trouble finding someone/thing ask on here  

Linda

[HeatherLynne]

Further to Linda's excellent example given above, there is also a shortcut you can use ...

Once you've got the result

Moxham Frank  Guildford 2a 82

if you click on the 82 it will take you direct to the list of two grooms and two brides that were on the same page    This saves you having to do the second new query part of Linda's example.   

Heather