Struggling to trace someone going backwards

[2november78]

Just a quick question......

 If there is someone you are pretty sure is an ancestor, but can't trace him going backwards, how would you go about finding said ancestor's descendants if he was never married?

Thanks in advance 

[lizdb]

If he never married - how do you know he had descendents? They would be illegitimate, so unless he was recorded as the father on a birth or baptism, or there was a bastardy order against him, you will never find any descendents.

[2november78]

Someone asked me the question and I didn't know, so I thought I'd ask on here.

Thank you anyway.

[LizzieW]

He could still have ancestors of sorts, he could have nephews and nieces.  In that case, you find out the parents of the nephews and nieces, then find their parents (on both sides) and then depending how far back you are going, see if you can find the parents or even grandparents as children on the 1901 or 1911 census and see if he was with any of them.

Lizzie

[lizdb]

Yes - he will have ANCESTORS - parents, grandparents, grt grandparents etc. Or more broadly - aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles etc.

But , if he never married, he will only have DESCENDANTS if he fathered any illegitimate children.


Going back to the original question - did you mean descendents?  Or are you looking for his parents etc?

[LizzieW]

The OP said "If there is someone you are pretty sure is an ancestor" which implies that he is an ancestor of the OP or friend, which implied to me that he was probably someone's uncle, g.uncle etc. which is why I suggested searching for nephews and nieces and their parents who would perhaps me the unknown person's siblings.