No wonder we can't find our ancestors

[LizzieW]

Someone who might be a distant relative of my husband, has been searching the parish records for clues as to her 3 x g.grandfather's parents.

Whilst searching she found that in the district in 1812 there was a smallpox outbreak between August and December and she said the register is harrowing to look at, so many children. But what is particularly poignant is that the Vicar gave up using names and just wrote things like two children from whatever Lane or one child, boy, etc. 

As this was long before the census and most likely people didn't know the address where their ancestors lived, there is no way anyone is going to be able to connect these children with their ancestors.

Lizzie

[miriamkinga]

That's really sad Lizzie especially as no-one will ever know their names. The poor Vicar as well, he'd have known all the families and maybe even lost children himself.

Best wishes

Maria

[Redroger]

In the company of some American possible relatives I searched the death registers for London parishes at the time of the 1660s plague. Frightening to see how the death rate took off, by the 2nd month they were just recording numbers rather than names of the dead.

[RedFox]

After learning how plagues and illnesses have prevented us knowing anything about our ancestors, I have to wonder about someone who says they can trace their ancestry back to the 1400 or 1500's - anywhere.   I've heard that Scottish soldiers use to use parish records to light their cigars!.  Considering the wars, diseases, and natural disasters, it's a wonder any of us are able to trace our families back two or three generations. 

[LizzieW]

RedFox - You can trace your ancestors back to 15th & 16th C and even earlier if they were important people at the time as they are recorded in places other than parish registers.  Some of my ancestors (one branch only) are listed in books at the British Library.  Some have tombs in St Dunstan's Church, Stepney, one distant ancestor was Dean of St Paul's and there's enough info about him on the internet to fill a library. His father who was Lord Mayor of London twice made a will, in which he mentions by name, his brother who is my direct ancestor and his children.

There are also records in The National Archives and old wills.  I have a wills of my ancestors from 1503, 1531, 1558, 1559,  some from the Borthwick Institute and some from The National Archives.

Of course, I don't have this kind of information for any of my other ancestors and the one I can't find anything about was only born about 1855/60   Ironically he lived with (never married) a descendant of the family that I have all the information from way back.

[Redroger]

They don't even have to be important, but it is very much a matter of luck before Parish Registration, I have one line back to around 1300AD; they were tenant farmers who rented the same farm off the same landowner for around 400 years; it is just luck that the manorial records referring to the farm happen to have survived.

[LizzieW]

Oh yes, I forgot about the manorial records and other old records. The problem is many of them are difficult to read.

[RedFox]

Luck would indeed be the operative word in genealogy/family history.  I've gotten back as far as 1700-1800 for most of my lines.  The majority of the ancestors were miners in Cornwall, Yorkshire, and Canada or farmers in Cumberland or the Midwest.  Probably a few merchants in Scotland and other places.  The most interesting group I've been able to trace is one of my son's lines going back go the 1600's during Colonial times.  It's only taken over 40 years so far.

[Redroger]

Oh yes, I forgot about the manorial records and other old records. The problem is many of them are difficult to read.

Many of them are in the custody of private individuals, and of other bodies like universities , which can often restrict physical access, and then there are the problems of transcribing and reading the records.